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Ministers of Health and other senior health personnel in
the countries of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and
Barbados will participate in a 2-day workshop on Hospital Governance in
Barbados at the office of the Caribbean Program Coordination (CPC), Pan American
Health/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), November 6-7, 2003.
The meeting aims to help sensitize the health officials to
the role of the Ministry in a decentralized system, particularly its
relationship to Boards and authorities. During the two day meeting participants
will identify the critical factors for the successful implementation of a
decentralized hospital board; and examine different models of decentralization
and hospital governance introduced in the Eastern Caribbean.
Sponsored by PAHO/WHO, the workshop builds on public sector
reform initiatives undertaken by the countries with technical assistance by PAHO
in recent years. In May 1999, PAHO sponsored a workshop in Saint Lucia to
examine identified implementation strategies for health sector reform in the
Eastern Caribbean. Also in 1999, PAHO partnered with the United Nations
Development Program and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) on a project
Managing and Financing Health to Reduce the Impact of Poverty in the Caribbean.
This project identified functional decentralization as the benchmark for OECS
countries, focusing on the establishment of hospital boards and the
strengthening of health districts. Additionally, in 2001, the PAHO Director
approved a technical cooperation project between Canada and Bermuda and six
Eastern Caribbean countries to support the implementation of decentralized
hospital management in project hospitals through a study tour to Canada and
Bermuda and through the development of guidelines by technical working groups.
The two-day meeting in Barbados, November 6-7, is the final major activity of
that project and is a response to the need to share information and experiences.
The workshop will be addressed by the PAHO Director Dr.
Mira Roses Periago on the Steering Role of Ministries of Health: Challenges
for the 21st Century.
According to the PAHO/CPC Advisor in Hospital
Administration, Mr. David Taylor, many countries are reforming their health
systems without fully benefiting from knowledge gained through the sharing of
experiences of neighbouring countries in implementing similar activities in
health reforms. “It is unrealistic to expect all small island states to plan for
health reform in their country in isolation,” the PAHO Advisor said. This
meeting marks the first time that the Ministers in this subregion are meeting to
to look specifically at decentralisation as a part of reform initiatives
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