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During Thursday’s 2026/2027 Budget Debate in the Bahamas House of Assembly, State Minister for Health and Wellness Owen Wells outlined a far-reaching legislative and administrative reform package aimed at modernizing the country’s healthcare sector, with new regulation of the funeral services industry highlighted as a key priority for protecting vulnerable grieving families.

Wells emphasized that families place unparalleled trust in funeral service providers during periods of profound loss, creating a critical need for formal oversight to guarantee ethical, professional care. The upcoming Funeral Services Industry Bill will enshrine binding requirements for operator licensing, uniform professional standards, robust consumer protections, and formal accountability mechanisms, all designed to ensure services uphold the dignity that end-of-life care demands. While the core framework of the legislation has been confirmed, Minister Wells did not release further details on timelines for tabling the bill, proposed penalties for non-compliance, or the specific agency that will be tasked with enforcing the new rules.

The funeral industry regulation is just one component of a broader push to expand and update healthcare sector governance. Minister Wells confirmed that the ministry is also advancing three other key legislative initiatives: a Patients’ Rights Bill, an updated Elderly Abandonment Bill, and ongoing work to embed other existing health legislation into force.

The Patients’ Rights Bill will establish a formal, clear framework to guide interactions between patients and healthcare providers, codifying core protections including informed consent for medical procedures, patient confidentiality, guaranteed access to personal health information, mandatory professional conduct standards, and requirements for respectful treatment of all care recipients. For vulnerable older Bahamians, the revised Elderly Abandonment Bill will strengthen existing legal protections, set clearer care standards, and reinforce commitments to upholding the dignity and overall wellbeing of the country’s aging population.

Beyond legislative changes, the ministry is pursuing structural administrative reforms to keep pace with its growing scope of work. For years, the ministry has relied on external legal support from the Public Hospitals Authority, the Office of the Attorney General, and the Department of Legal Affairs to handle regulatory and legal matters. As the sector expands and modernizes, Wells announced that a dedicated in-house Legal Unit will be established during the 2026/2027 fiscal period.

This internal legal team will cut response times for pressing regulatory and legal issues, reduce costly delays in contract negotiations, strengthen public procurement processes, and ensure all ministry policies and programs are legally sound from their design stage. The new unit will also reduce the administrative burden on the Office of the Attorney General by handling routine and specialized health sector legal work internally, including licensing reviews, administrative actions, contract drafting, regulatory rollout, and clinical governance matters.

To address longstanding coordination gaps across the public healthcare system, Wells also announced the creation of a Public Health Operations Task Force. The inter-agency body will conduct a comprehensive review of how core public health entities – including the Ministry of Health and Wellness, the Department of Public Health, Princess Margaret Hospital, Rand Memorial Hospital, the Supplies Management Agency, and other relevant stakeholders – interact and operate. It will map existing workflows, identify systemic bottlenecks and service duplication, and propose evidence-based practical solutions to streamline cross-agency coordination and improve service delivery for patients.

Digital modernization of health records will also remain a key priority during the upcoming budget cycle. The ministry will continue rolling out universal Electronic Medical Records across all Department of Public Health facilities, while working to integrate these systems with other major public healthcare institutions. Plans are also in place to strengthen the national Health Information Exchange, allowing authorized care providers to securely access critical patient data when needed for treatment.

Wells pushed back against any perception that these reforms are merely bureaucratic adjustments, noting that every proposed change is centered on people. “These topics may appear administrative in nature, but their purpose is people-centred and intended to protect patients, support families, assist healthcare workers and strengthen public confidence in our healthcare system,” he said. The government’s overall legislative agenda for the health sector is focused on four core goals: strengthening patient protections, updating outdated professional regulations, improving national public health preparedness, and supporting innovation in how care is delivered to Bahamian communities.

A fiery confrontation has erupted in Bahamian parliamentary budget debates, as Long Island Member of Parliament Dr Andre Rollins has launched intensified scrutiny over multi-million dollar government contracts awarded to a construction firm tied to a convicted US narcotics trafficker, calling for full disclosure of any campaign donations the trafficker may have made to the governing Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) over the past decade.

At the center of the controversy is Top Notch Builders, a company that was granted a $35 million public-private partnership (PPP) contract to build the Eight Mile Rock administrative complex just 24 hours before the May 2017 general election. Public corporate registry documents from The Bahamas directly link Eric Gardiner, a man previously convicted of drug trafficking charges in the United States, to the firm, where he is listed as president and a director. Corporate filings further show that Top Notch Builders owns Complete Construction, the developer behind the current administration’s flagship Carmichael Village affordable housing initiative, which launched during the previous legislative term.

In a surprising reveal, current Finance Minister Michael Halkitis has confirmed he previously held a director position at Top Notch Builders, though he maintains he stepped down from the role in 2021, citing disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr Rollins dedicated the bulk of his budget debate address to pressing for clear answers about the awarding process for the Eight Mile Rock contract. He is demanding confirmation of which government official approved the deal, whether the contract was put out for mandatory competitive bidding, and whether Gardiner has ever contributed to PLP campaign coffers. “Who in the government knew what, and when did they know it?” Rollins asked lawmakers. “Was the project open to a competitive bidding process, and if not, why not? Which minister of government was responsible for signing off on the terms of the agreement?”

Additional context around the case dates back to a plane crash on a previous Election Day, when U.S. rescue teams recovered Gardiner alongside ten other survivors. Authorities reported Gardiner was carrying $30,000 in cash at the time of the crash, and multiple survivors were observed wearing clothing and accessories branded with PLP branding. Dr Rollins argues Bahamian voters have a right to know whether Gardiner made any campaign donations to the PLP after the 2017 awarding of the Grand Bahama contract.

“This is important because it would help to explain why a company he is alleged to be a beneficial owner of would receive unusually favourable contractual terms by public contract,” he explained. “It would also help us to investigate which government ministers had direct involvement in the issuance of that eight mile rock government complex contract to Top Notch.”

Dr Rollins also alleged that a controversial “poison pill provision” was written into the PPP contract, designed to make the agreement impossible for a new administration to cancel. He claimed that when the Minnis administration took office in 2017, officials would have been required to pay the full value of the contract, including all accrued principal and interest, if they chose to terminate the deal.

“It’s unbelievable that any government would not have done its due diligence on the principal of Top Notch Builders,” he said. “And with a principal who has been already convicted of narcotics trafficking by the United States of America to get $50.6m in government money means… if one was so minded or had that amount of money to wash or clean, it would be a very convenient way to do so.”

Broadening his critique to public-private partnership arrangements as a whole, Dr Rollins warned that without mandatory public disclosure and robust oversight, PPPs can easily be exploited as vehicles for money laundering. He added that full, nationwide implementation of the Freedom of Information Act would significantly improve government transparency and accountability by creating a verifiable public paper trail for all state contracts.

The debate quickly devolved into a heated parliamentary exchange after Dr Rollins opened his remarks with sharp criticism of the role of big money in Bahamian politics and alleged procedural exploitation in the House of Assembly. Fox Hill MP Fred Mitchell repeatedly raised points of order arguing Rollins’ comments were not relevant to the budget debate, a position that was later upheld by House Speaker Patricia Deveaux.

The back-and-forth escalated into a public clash between Dr Rollins and Speaker Deveaux, with both accusing the other of undermining The Bahamas’ democratic institutions. At one tense point, Dr Rollins warned the Speaker to be cautious, saying he did not want to see her suffer a negative health incident. “You could never,” Speaker Deveaux shouted in response. “Ten of you. Ten just like you could not bring my health event. Be careful. Boy look here. Don’t do that.”