****Source Caribbean News Now, New Editor, Dec 02, 2022
Cancer patients in the Eastern Caribbean no longer have to travel abroad to have themselves treated.
At the launch event of Melissa Poponne Skerrit for Roseau Central Constituency, Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit emphasized that the Dominica-China Friendship Hospital is now capable of offering cancer treatments that used to be inaccessible in the small island nation.
According to the Associate Times, Skerrit said that the hospital is the best one in the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). Officially opened in 2019, the Dominica-China Friendship Hospital acquired its HIFU machine early this year. HIFU is a cancer treatment that uses high-frequency sound waves.
In a previous interview, Chinese ambassador to Dominica Lin Xianjiang said he acquisition of HIFU machine along with an MRI scanner “will greatly enhance Dominica’s dominant position in the Caribbean health care sector.”
“I was told that Director of PAHO, Dr. Carissa Etienne spoke highly of the project. She said these are world class services, some of which are not available in the OECS and even the wider Caribbean in terms of the public health sector,” H.E. XianJiang Lin said.
Skerrit mentioned that a patient who sought treatment in the United States came back to Dominica only to find out that the same procedure is being offered in the island.
“That person is receiving the care, and we pray we pray for that person’s recovery that is what labour has done for Dominica,” said the prime minister.
The Dominica-China Friendship Hospital is one of the many healthcare institutions in the island that aligns with the government’s desire too build back better for its people.
It is fully funded by the Government of the People’s Republic of China and was built in seven phases.
Other healthcare facilities in the island are funded by the Citizenship by Investment program, with construction projects managed by the MMC Development Ltd.
MMC Development Ltd. is responsible for the construction of the New Marigot Hospital and twelve health centres across the island.
