Business View Caribbean - August 2016 55
who joined the BVIHSA in 2012, with over 20 years
of experience in medical and healthcare services. It
employs 625 people, making it the Territory’s second
largest employer, and has an estimated budget of $40
million. Its services include: Audiology, Emergency,
Hemodialysis, Infection & Prevention Control, Labora-
tory Services, Medical Imaging, Nutrition and Dietet-
ics, Pharmacy, Physiotherapy, Social Services, Gen-
eral Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Pediatric
Care.
According to Baptiste, the Territory’s National Health
Insurance (NHI) system is similar to that of the United
Kingdom’s. Legal residents of the BVI must make a
mandatory contribution of 3.75 percent of their earn-
ings up to the Social Security maximum threshold
of US $5,791.50, in order to be covered by National
Health Insurance. Employers of those persons are as-
sessed an additional 3.75 percent of their worker’s
salary. Treatment received under NHI is subject to a
lifetime cap of US$1,000,000, but individuals remain
subject to a five percent co-pay at Peebles Hospital.
There is no co-pay requirement for treatment at a com-
munity health clinic.
Those persons without the means to contribute to the
NHI, after going through the Ministry of Health and So-
cial Development’s means testing, plus children under
the age of 16, police officers, firemen, prison officers,
public health workers, the mentally ill, and prisoners,
are not required to pay into the system. “Regardless
AT A GLANCE
WHO:
The British Virgin Islands Health Services
Authority
WHAT:
The statutory body that oversees the Ter-
ritory’s healthcare providers
WHERE:
Tortola, British Virgin Islands
Email
:
