– says President JagdeoAlthough there remains a strong will, the quantum of resources spent in the local health sector is simply not adequate. This declaration was made recently by President Bharrat Jagdeo even as he addressed a gala affair to mark the opening of the Eighth Caribbean College of Surgeons Conference here in Guyana.According to the President,Ivan Rakitic Jersey, the system is currently far from perfect and reflects the fact that health care has a limited allocation despite the untiring efforts to improve services. And in order to address this dilemma, he revealed that measures have been engaged to move towards universal primary health care. “We have made it clear that we cannot afford tertiary health…We can’t afford it in the public system. So what we have done with a number of groups and people from abroad, like the Caribbean Heart Institute, which is now here, is that the state bought some of the equipment at CHI and in exchange for that there is a reduced fee because it is a partnership.” Through such partnerships, the President revealed that patients are allowed to pay a reduced fee when they access the services, adding that a similar undertaking in the area of cancer care and dialysis is currently being embraced by Government.“The state partnering with the Private Sector is to deliver tertiary care, and the state’s input, because it is a subsidy, hopefully, we will bring the cost down so that it becomes affordable.” According to him, affordability of service will soon become a major issue across the Region and not just in Guyana. “Frankly speaking, I see our dynamics moving in the right direction but you have heard us argued for debt relief for middle income countries and the rest of the Caribbean countries…without debt relief for the OECS countries, mainly for Jamaica, then there would be practically no viable medium-term economic strategy.”It is the belief of the President that debt is “sucking the energy and life out of those countries”, a situation that he anticipates will only become worse because a lot of the countries borrow on commercial terms. The President asserted that since surgeons and doctors have to work in such an environment, they can in no way divorce themselves from the reality of the situation in which they work. He further underscored that there are going to be major challenges that will arise with the economic situation in any of the countries. “I am speaking not just about the short term problems because there are short term fears now that there will be a double-dipper recession – those will be overcome, but I am telling you about long term underlying structural problems within our economies that will see more and more money going towards sustainability issues; servicing debts rather than to social services. So you will have to confront that situation.”In addition, he revealed that there is another looming challenge which many countries of the Region have not even factored into their respective planning process. This state of affairs, he revealed is a looming disaster associated with climate change.“Although we can’t fix climate change, because we are in terms of global green house gas emission, negligible emitters, we have to advocate for binding global agreements that are fair and that would help to mitigate this situation. We will have to get enough funding for adaptation and mitigation purposes so that we can deal with some of the consequences of climate change.”The consequences, according to the President, are going to come in the form of the way of life, a development which has already begun to materialise. According to President Jagdeo, the crops that we grow, “we are not going to be able to grow them; a single weather related event, and they are becoming more frequent, could wipe out the equivalent of 80 percent of Gross Domestic Product… Now that is catastrophic,Patrick Mahomes II Youth Jersey, that is systemic and it is not like the limited impact like Katrina in the US where it affected one state.”In fact, he speculated that the hurricanes are going to occur with more frequency. The President theorised that even diseases will change even as climate becomes warmer; the presence of different sorts of vectors will arise and it will become a challenge to medicine.According to the President,Solomon Thomas Youth Jersey, it has been estimated that the cost of adaptation in Guyana alone just to raise the sea defences,Eric Dier Hotspur Jersey UK, given the fact that the entire coast here is below sea level, and to fix the conservancies to have better flood control and water management, is close to one billi