Turks and Caicos Islands

Table 5.4.1: Summary effects on the health sector from Hurricane Ike and Storm Hanna in the Turks and Caicos
Islands (US $)
TOTAL EFFECT $29,712,660.00
Total Damage $3,274,731.00
iv. Damage to Health Facilities $3,193,000.00
v. Damage to equipment and furnishings $81,731.00
vi. Imported component $2,947,257.90
Total Losses $26,437,929.00
x. Environmental health including clearing of debris and public
education
$944,620.00
xi. Addition cost of generation electricity $131,820.00
xii. Loss due to transfer of patients to other facilities for care $25,000,000.00
xiii. Losses due to forgone income $25,500.00
xiv. Losses to the establishment of temporary clinics $130,000.00
xv. Additional cost to staff services $101,580.00
xvi. Additional cost of communications $2,000.00
xvii. Additional cost for relocation of families in need $56,559.00
xviii. Lost due to additional cost of water $45,850.00
(Source: Taken from ECLAC, 2008)
5.4.2. Management
The Ministry of Health, which is part of the Ministry of Finance, Health and National Insurance (MFHNI) is
responsible for provision of health care in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Three of the departments most
relevant in strengthening the ability of the country to adapt to climate change are the Primary Health
Department, the Department of Environmental Health and the Medical Department. Other important
departments in health protection include the Department of Economic Planning and Statistics which
records statistics use in policy decision making and for suitable programmes for disease prevention, the
Water Undertaking Department which is important in providing water for the territory and the Department
of Labour and the Department of Labour Immigration which have important roles in immigrants and illegal
immigrant issues.
The main hospital in the Turks and Caicos Islands was the 30-bed Grand Turk Hospital that served the needs
not only Grand Turk but other islands in the territory (ECLAC, 2008). In 2008, two new general public
hospital facilities, capable of providing primary and secondary health care were contracted to the
InterHealth Canada (ICL) at a cost of $124 million using a Private Finance Initiative (PFI). Of this figure, $65
million was allocated to construction of the facilities built to withstand Category 5 hurricanes and the
remainder used to purchase equipment, staffing and other operational expenses (Government Information
Services, 2011). These hospitals, completed and opened in 2010, are located in Grand Turk (10-bed facility)
and in Providenciales (20-bed facility) and were expected to reduce the need and cost associated with
overseas treatment (ECLAC, 2008). Further expansion of these facilities into a 20-bed and 40-bed facilities is
catered for within the 25 year contract agreement (InterHealth Canada, 2008).
These facilities are largely staffed by British professionals from doctors and nurses to paramedics and
management personnel (House of Lords, 2011). This consists of a mixture of government employed
professionals as well as private sector professions who work in just over 20 health care facilities across the
territory (WHO-AIMS, 2009). The number of inhabitants per physician (public sector only), was 1,857 in
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