St.Kitts and Nevis PM, The Honorable Dr. Timohty Harris is defending the stem cell regenerative medicine project put in place at the JNF Hospital by the TUG.
Speaking to the Caribbean Media Corporation Anika Kentish in Antigua on Friday, where PM Harris was attending an OECS meeting, Dr Harris claimed that the stem cell project had met the necessary standards.
We have a regenerative project that is underway, that has met the test of time, the test of science, the test of due diligence, that is still ongoing,” Dr. Harris said.“There was some mischief being propagated by some persons who were ill-intentioned with regards to the health sector, that it was a stem cell project.
The truth is, we never engaged in the stem cell project of the type that has been propagated.”Dr Harris insisted that this project formed part of the governments bid to establish St. Kitts-Nevis as a medical tourism destination.
“We’re into regenerative medicine. We’re seeing this as a significant added value to our medical tourism programme where we can provide a range of support services in health care for those that would want to visit and take advantage of our more therapeutic environment in which to recuperate and that is what we’re attempting to do, make a contribution to the health and welfare of the world through our involvement in regenerative medicine,” he explained.
Retired CMO Dr Patrick Martin was soundly criticized by PM Harris and Jr Minister of Health Wendy Phipps for referring to the project as a stem cell initiative. Dr Martin had indicated to the media back then that the project had not been approved by the CMO and was being directed by a Brazilian doctor who was not licensed to practice in the federation.
On Friday however Pm Harris continued to dismiss those charges, saying that there were local doctors involved and that proper guidelines and protocols were being followed. “There [is] expertise from overseas. There are local doctors that are involved in this project,” the Prime Minister told CMC on Friday.
“There are local nurses who have been trained to deliver the kind of health services that the clients will demand, so there are significant benefits to our people, both in terms of work, both in terms of an ability to engage in and to be involved in high level scientific and…medical work and all these we think are positive and redound for a better St. Kitts and Nevis,” he said, indicating that the Federation was still new to the industry.
“We’re at the preliminary stage and so in due course we hope to see that this particular branch of medical tourism, would bring a large number of tourists to our shores who would stay for a decent period of time and who will contribute significantly to the economy with the expenditures they will undertake in a wide range of areas from accommodation to health to transportation to entertainment, etcetera, etcetera.”