CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (December 11, 2007)
Minister of Health in the Nevis Island Administration the Honourable Hensley Daniel, showered praise on the Bank of Nevis (BON) on Friday December 09, 2006, for what he termed was the bank’s critical investment in health care on Nevis.
Mr. Daniel’s commendation came following the BON’s donation of about EC$20,000 to the Ministry of Health on Friday December 09, 2007, to be used in the health services on the island. The donation formed part of BON’s activities during its Customer Appreciation Day, to mark the Bank’s 21st anniversary of operations in Nevis, during a brief handing over ceremony at the Nevis Island Administration building in Charlestown.
“This is a critical investment in the wellbeing of the country. We want to say that the Bank of Nevis has been a good cooperate citizen, it has used some of its profits to contribute to health care and I want to thank them very much and wish them another 21 years of success,” the Health Minister said.
Mr. Daniel explained that the Ministry of Health had identified a particular area of prevention under the Social Action Programme which he said would be operated out of the Community Centres through health education.
He said that the Health Promotion Unit would be strengthened through the purchase of multi media equipment. The equipment would be used to take information on nutrition, diabetes, hypertension and care of children to the community in an effort to prevent diseases and thereby decrease pressure on the hospital.
“Of course this programme is in line with the concept of primary health care where the idea is to attack diseases at the community level,” he said and added that some of the money would also be used for the purchase of computers for use at the Health Centres to update records which had fallen in disarray.
The Minister expressed his sincere thanks and appreciation on behalf or the NIA and said the Bank would also benefit from the partnership it had forged in health with the NIA.
He said the Bank drew its employees from the Nevis community and it was in the government’s interest as well as the bank’s interest, to ensure a healthy community from which it drew its staff. Therefore, he concluded, the donation was an investment in the people of the country and in particular in the health of the country.
Meantime, while he handed over the gift, Mr. Hanzel Manners Acting General Manager of the BON said, the bank’s Board of Directors had unanimously approved the contribution to the health services, a gesture which he said, would be of benefit to all the people of Nevis.
“We have been involved in the Nevis community over the last 21 years and we have relied very much on the patronage of the Nevis public and we feel that it is a great time to give something back and we think that the area of health is one avenue by which we can make a contribution to everybody in Nevis and not just to any particular sector,” he said.
According to Mr. Manners, the Ministry of Health was given the liberty to identify the project for which the gift would best be utilized for the benefit of all.