Health and Wellness Minister, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Bostic, has outlined some of the ways the health sector expects to benefit from the recent visits of delegations from Ghana and Kenya.
Speaking at the launch of the Oliver and Janet St. John, Christian and Hyacinth Agbadamashie Foundation Charity at Coleridge and Parry School yesterday, Minister Bostic noted that nation-building was about forming strategic alliances with non-traditional partners.
This, he said, was exemplified by the visits of the African delegations, observing that Barbados’ health sector stood to gain in areas such as research and development, training opportunities for interns, sourcing quality and efficacious generic pharmaceuticals, and strengthening the complement of trained nurses.
Lt. Col. Bostic cited the launch of the St. John/Agbadamashie charity as another example of a strategic alliance, noting that the Foundation’s commitment to providing scholarships and grants to young people would contribute towards the improvement of the fabric of society.
He highlighted the Foundation’s willingness to support research in the areas of health and education through sponsorship of students at the graduate and post-graduate levels, an initiative, he said he strongly supported since it was only through indigenous research that a country could make pragmatic policy decisions.
Another important aspect of the Foundation’s work, he identified, was the promotion of medical research in the field of paediatric diabetes.
The Minister of Health and Wellness welcomed this support for Type 1 diabetic patients and announced that the Barbados Drug Formulary will be reviewing the range of pharmaceuticals for Type 1 diabetes with a view to expanding the available treatments.
Additionally, he reported that Barbados was in negotiation with Sick Kids International in Toronto, Canada, to establish a Paediatric Centre of Excellence in Barbados through training and skills development of nursing and medical personnel, as well as investment in paediatric and child health primary care services.
The charity, launched by Christian and Hyacinth Agbadamashie, is in honour of Mrs. Agbadamashie’s parents, the late Oliver and Janet St. John, and the Agbadamashie’s son, the late Oliver Adeleke Agbadamashie.