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Contact:
Virnet St. Omer-Fontenelle
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From left to right:- Director General of
the OECS - Dr. Len Ishmael, Ambassador of France in the OECS, His Excellency
Bernard Venzo, Chief Medical Officer - Dr. Steven King |
Friday, March 19, 2004 – Saint. Lucia is one of two OECS countries
holding discussions with French health officials on a new plan for dealing with
persons afflicted with cancer.
This week a workshop on cancer and cancer referrals opened at the Bay Gardens
Resort, bringing together doctors from St. Lucia, Dominica and Martinique to
draw up a plan, which would inform the future relationship with Martinique.
Chief Medical Officer Dr Stephen King says the plan has two major objectives.
The first is to develop a protocol for accessing care in Martinique based on
sound medical science, while the second priority is to use their contacts to
develop their services locally, in order to work to improve their services in
Saint Lucia.
“So we will use the Martinique system to build on our own in the OECS… We want
our people to be confident that when they enter the health system that the
system can meet their needs, even if those needs mean that they have to be
treated here or Martinique. Give them the confidence they will be given the best
care that is available for them in that part of the world.” Dr King said.
Director General of the OECS, Dr. Len Ishmael says the OECS has its
vulnerabilities among which, is resource constraints, an issue for all the
islands in all sectors. Initiatives like an OECS collaboration with Martinique
and Guadeloupe on health is a strategy to ensure that the sub region pools all
critical resources to achieve its development goals.
It costs an estimated $26,000 for one cancer patient to get radio and
chemo-therapy. That does not include the cost of surgery, doctor visits and
hospital stay.
Dr. Ishmael urged participants to give every attention to costs in their
discussions saying, “If we can pull out any single disaggregating factor that
will have most impact on any arrangement that is discussed, cost will be that
particular aspect that will either make certain arrangements viable or not.”
The two-day workshop on cancer and cancer referrals was organised by the OECS
with funding from the French Embassy.
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