Harold Lovell, the United Progressive Party’s opposition candidate, has issued a stark warning to the government regarding the deteriorating state of public health infrastructure across Antigua and Barbuda. While acknowledging the valuable contribution of newly recruited nurses—including healthcare professionals arriving from Ghana—Lovell emphasized that personnel alone cannot resolve systemic failures when medical facilities remain inadequate.
The politician highlighted a critical contradiction in current health policy: the ongoing recruitment of medical staff while numerous clinics stand either completely closed, structurally unsound, or operationally deficient. According to Lovell, these facilities have remained non-functional for extended periods without clear plans for reactivation, severely hampering healthcare delivery nationwide.
Lovell characterized the government’s approach as prioritizing superficial appearances over substantive solutions, arguing that staffing increases without corresponding infrastructure investment constitute an ineffective strategy. He insisted that genuine improvement requires immediate attention to physical infrastructure deficiencies within the public health system.
“The time has come to cease managing appearances and commence managing healthcare effectively,” Lovell stated, underscoring that clinic and hospital repairs are fundamental prerequisites for any meaningful enhancement of medical services. He maintained that without these foundational improvements, additional staffing would prove insufficient in addressing the healthcare system’s core challenges.