Anguilla’s Honourable Minister of Health, Mr. Evans McNiel Rogers, has announced that Anguillians are among nationals in the Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) who will be able to access treatment in Antigua for cancer and other chronic non-communicable diseases at affordable costs.
Mr. Rogers attended the formal opening of the OECS Cancer Centre in St. John’s, Antigua, on Friday, June 26. He was accompanied by the Director of Health, Dr. Aisha Andrewin.
“For Anguillian cancer patients, the Centre will not only reduce the cost of travel to the US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and the US mainland, but the cost of the actual treatment,” Mr. Rogers told The Anguillian. “That cost will be heavily subsidised by the OECS and other organisations.”
He said that in Anguilla there was a noticeable increase in various cancer diseases among the population. “I think early diagnosis and proper treatment would help to prolong life,” he went on. “But we need to examine our way of living, so to speak, in terms of our eating habits, the need for exercise; and to do our annual regular check-ups so that we can detect problems much earlier. All in all, the provision of the Cancer Centre is definitely an improvement in the sense that it is more accessible and more affordable.”
Mr. Rogers continued: “Let me just backup when I said ‘accessible’ because, as you know, LIAT intends to pull out of Anguilla pretty soon. We are hoping that, as the negotiations continue, some link will be made between Antigua and Anguilla – not just for the sake of cancer patients but also but for our visitors who are coming in from the UK, Europe and other places.”
The Anguillian Health Minister praised former Antigua & Barbuda’s Prime Minister, Mr. Baldwin Spencer (now Opposition Leader), for initiating the Centre and breaking ground three years ago. “It is an idea that has been duplicated from the Cancer Centre in The Bahamas,” he explained. “Dr. Brown, an Oncologist, and world-renowned individual, who is actually a native of The Bahamas, has established a Cancer Centre there. He is the main driver behind the entire thing – to spread cancer centres throughout the region.”
Mr. Rogers added that cancer specialists from throughout the world were being recruited for the Antigua Cancer Centre and would be resident on that island.
