Antigua and Barbuda’s first dedicated, in-country cancer treatment centre is on track to welcome its first patients by the end of June, the nation’s Health Minister Michael Joseph has announced, a development poised to cut heavy government spending on overseas medical care and expand life-saving access for local residents.
Speaking during an interview with Pointe FM’s popular current affairs show *On Pointe*, Minister Joseph emphasized that advancing the long-delayed launch of the facility has become a top priority for his ministry, as the government continues to face crippling annual costs from sending patients abroad for life-sustaining cancer care.
“When the project was brought forward for discussion in Cabinet, I was given a clear timeline: the centre will be ready to open by the end of June,” Joseph told listeners.
The minister shared new details highlighting just how pressing the need for a local treatment hub has become, revealing that in the past two weeks alone, his government has approved roughly $200,000 in public assistance to cover treatment costs for Antiguan and Barbudan cancer patients receiving care in Colombia.
“Going over the approval protocols, I signed off on around $200,000 in just the last fortnight to support people currently undergoing treatment outside our borders,” he explained.
Those staggering short-term costs underscore the urgent need to bring cancer care home, Joseph argued. When extrapolated over a full year, even the two-week spending figure illustrates how much public funding could be redirected to other critical healthcare needs once the centre is operational.
“If we can deliver most of these treatments right here at home, we can cut those massive outbound expenses significantly,” he noted.
Beyond easing the government’s fiscal burden, the in-country centre will remove major barriers to care for local residents, many of whom face additional stress and logistical challenges from having to travel abroad for treatment, away from their families and support systems.
Looking ahead, the facility also has the potential to expand access to cancer care across the entire region, Joseph said. Eventually, the centre could accept patients from other member nations of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), extending its public health impact far beyond Antigua and Barbuda’s borders.
The cancer centre is just one of several transformative healthcare projects the Ministry of Health is currently advancing, the minister added. Other key initiatives in the pipeline include the development of a new cardiac care unit and major expansions to the country’s public mental health services. For the coming months, however, launching the cancer treatment hub remains the ministry’s top near-term objective.