“PM: We will send ambulances and EMTs to Family Isl.” — The Nassau Guardian

Today the Progressive Liberal Party had had a grand medical revelation: after four years in office, Prime Minister Philip “New Day” Davis has suddenly discovered that Bahamians should not be transported on the back of trucks during a medical emergency. Wonderful, Mr. Prime Minister — a round of applause for arriving at the obvious, now what do you plan to do about it?

Now, let’s review: Eleuthera already has ambulances. Two of them, in fact. One needs outfitting, both need trained EMTs. That’s it. Not rocket science, not stem cell science — just common sense and some staffing. But apparently, outfitting existing ambulances and hiring personnel wasn’t nearly as glamorous as cutting ribbons at “state-of-the-art” labs in Sandyport or funnelling taxpayer dollars into projects that don’t actually save lives when Bahamians are bleeding out in the Family Islands.

So instead of simply fixing the problem that actually  was in the processed of being resolved when they took office; they ignored it and now this  “New Day” government is now promising to buy new ambulances. Because nothing says “we care” like throwing more money at shiny new vehicles while perfectly good ones gather dust outside a clinic. And why? Well, if you know the PLP, you know there are always certain “reasons” — and I have a theory but it is so repulsive that it sickens me, because even this New Day government would not play politics with the lives of Bahamian citizens, right?

The Prime Minister nobly declared: “An ambulance without a trained team is just a vehicle.” Indeed, sir. And a government without priorities is just a PR machine. After four years of silence, suddenly this administration has found its conscience — right after a cancer patient was humiliated in the rain on a truckbed. Spare us the speeches about “equity in healthcare” when the inequity was sitting right there, parked in Eleuthera, ignored for years.

The PLP doesn’t fail because of lack of resources. They fail because it’s in their DNA. It’s their nature.

END