The recent installation of a resident physician at the Romalia Smith Clinic on Anegada has been rated a success by residents on that sister island.
This is according to a media release from the BVI Health Services Authority (BVIHSA) which said the six-month pilot project has already seen an increase of visits by residents to the community clinic, since its launch on Friday June 18.
Cuban physician Dr. Idalrer Torrez Perez is the resident physician on the sister island and he was one of the doctors from the cohort that arrived in the territory from Cuba to provide COVID-19 pandemic support.
Speaking on the initiative was Minister for Health Carvin Malone, who said that although the Cuban doctors were invited to the territory to deal with the pandemic, provision was made for one of the physicians to serve Anegada.
He said, “Since we do have the brigade of Cubans with us, we found it necessary, we found it expedient, critical that we go through this six-month period; where we have a full-time doctor for the first time.”
No doctor on island for decades
District Representative Vincent Wheatley noted that the situation of having no doctor on the island of Anegada has spanned several decades and said he was pleased that it had been finally sorted.
According to Wheatley who is also the Minister for Natural Resources, Labour and Immigration, when the idea was first mentioned to bring Cuban doctors to the BVI, he made the request to have one of the medical professionals for Anegada and another for Jost Van Dyke.
“It makes me feel so good I could cry right now. The issue of healthcare in Anegada is over 70 years old,” Hon. Wheatley exclaimed.
Major improvement
Also sharing similar sentiments was Romalia Smith – one of Anegada’s most noted clinician and whose name the clinic bears – who said the initiative is a major improvement for the island’s medical services as before the doctor only visited one day a week and went back to Tortola.
“The doctor was only coming one day a week on a Wednesday…This is better because we are having this doctor here for almost a week. Plus then it was only one nurse, we have two nurses at the clinic now so it is much better and I hope that it will continue to improve,” Smith explained.
Residents encouraged to utilize service
Meanwhile, BVIHSA’s Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Cedorene Malone-Smith encouraged the residents to make use of the on-island physician.
She said, “My hope, my prayer, my wish is that the people of Anegada will utilize the services…Health is wealth, with the health of the community we will get better.”
“At the BVI Health Services Authority we try to listen and respond…We may not move as expeditiously as persons like to think but we are always listening to hear how we can make healthcare better,” Malone-Smith added.