The Health Minister says the low stock was due in part to supply chain issues, which led to medication taking longer time to arrive in-country. Jn. Baptiste says of particular worry to the Ministry was the shortage of diabetic and hypertensive medication.

“There are cases when the individuals would go to the health and wellness centers and do not get a particular medication. Over the last few months, we had a challenge with diabetic and hypertensive medication. And that had to do with supply chain issues. It had to do with us paying for the medication and then we're not getting the medication on time,” Jn Baptiste said.

He says the Ministry worked overtime to procure medication to meet some of the island’s demands. These medicines, he says, were distributed across the island.

“But we had some other processes and procedures which caused a lot of this medication to be distributed over the last few weeks. We do not have all of it yet, but something is being done to ameliorate the situation and cause the situation to be much better.”

Access to medication forms part of the government’s Universal Health Coverage regime, the Minister says. He notes that as investment in the health sector increases, the service rendered would improve. He begs the public’s patience as free health services cannot be given to everyone immediately.

“We have said before as a government that we know we cannot implement universal health coverage one time in all departments for everybody. At the same time, we are not waiting 10 years to begin to offer individual services simply because we do not have all the money to do it all at one time. That's why we started with maternal and child care.”

The Minister says since the commencement of free maternal services, Wellness Centres noted an increase of 57% in treated mothers.