60 Specialists attend BVI Medical Conference
The government of the Virgin Islands will continue to provide
quality effective and efficient health care to the residents
of and visitors to the territory, according to Minister for Health
and Welfare the Honourable Ethlyn Smith. She made the commitment
as she addressed the opening on Monday of the 23rd Annual British
Virgin Islands Medical Conference held at the Prospect Reef Resort.
The week-long conference was sponsored by the Grand Rapids Medical
Education and Research Center for Health Professions Continuing
Medical Education in Michigan in cooperation with the government
of the BVI and the Medical Association of the British Virgin
Islands.
Sixty medical professionals from the United States, the United Kingdom, Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and Canada attended. The BVI Health Minister noted that the health services here have enjoyed a long healthy relationship with this conference. “While the advances in the information age have indeed made the world smaller and teleconferences have become more commonplace, we value your presence here.” According to Hon. Smith, in a small territory such as ours, opportunities for continuing medical education can be very costly. She said this conference provides a forum to discuss recent advances in medicine and to exchange views on emerging and age-old diseases and issues.
Participants in this conference have, in the past, made their expertise available both residents and the local medical community. They have visited the hospital and undertaken consultations on difficult cases; in some cases, they have assisted with medical referrals overseas and others have been involved with the delivery of patient education seminars and have provided assistance to the BVI Diabetes Association. “The local medical and health community, for a few days, have the opportunity to participate in this conference and to consult with an international group of medical colleagues,” she noted. “I expect that they will take full advantage of this excellent opportunity for continuing education and networking and that you will graciously continue to give and share your expertise for the benefit of our people.”
The theme of the conference was “Healthcare Challenges”.
The Health Minister reported that the BVI is also grappling with
healthcare challenges. “We are in the process of building
a new hospital and despite the challenges posed by our size and
the availability of skilled human resources, we plan to provide
quality, efficient and effective health care.”
Hon. Smith said this could only be achieved with a greater emphasis
on health promotion, disease prevention and application of appropriate
cost-effective and efficacious treatment. She said this conference
helps in this objective of exposing local health care professionals
to relevant up-to-date information in a variety of medical specialties.
In his welcoming remarks, BVI Governor His Excellency Frank Savage emphasized the BVI’s appreciation of the services rendered by these international physicians. He recalled benefiting from a check-up last year at one of the affiliated institutions – Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. “It brought home to me…the difference between the first world and the rest; how with all the funding in the first world how medical science is racing ahead and how the rest of the world, in most ways, is going backwards. The rest of the world is still tackling disease which in the first world has been conquered 20 years ago.” He pointed out that there is a spin-off from this medical conference. He noted that we may not be in a position to take advantage of this “space-age medical knowledge”, but we certainly can benefit from the services these physicians offer while here. Governor Savage commended to the visiting specialists our local medical practitioners, particularly those in public service. He encouraged them to interface with them, visit the local health facilities, take an interest and keep that interest going throughout the year through correspondence with the local doctors.
For his part, Chief Minister the Honourable Ralph T. O’Neal also applauded the visiting physicians for giving of their service to the BVI and said he hopes they would continue. He publicly congratulated Dr. Robin Tattersall of the Bougainvillea Clinic, who has been with the conference since its inception, for having being awarded the OBE in the Queen’s New Years Honours List, for services rendered to this territory since 1965. Chief Minister O’Neal said he has used this medical conference as a marketing tool to encourage other professionals to host similar conferences in the BVI. He said this is gaining ground and comes at a time when government is considering extending the territory’s conference facilities.
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