If the Browne administration wanted a theme for this Independence season, it shouldn’t be “Solid, Stable, Soaring.” It should be this:
“In life and in death… you are on your own.”
Nothing exposes the collapse of Antigua & Barbuda under this government like the state of healthcare — or what’s left of it.
Let’s stop pretending. We are not “soaring.”
We are sink-ing, and thanks to Molwyn Joseph, healthcare is the anchor tied to the nation’s neck.
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- Clinics Across the Country Are CLOSED — And the Government Won’t Explain Why
The All Saints Clinic, one of the busiest in the country, remains closed. Others have shuttered their doors or operate like ghost facilities — sporadic hours, minimal staffing, no services.
A clinic is not a boutique. You don’t simply “close for now.” Every day a clinic is closed is a day:
• a diabetic goes untreated,
• a mother cannot vaccinate her child,
• an elderly person skips care because transportation is too expensive,
• a treatable condition becomes an emergency.
This government has the nerve to talk about “stability” while the very backbone of community health care collapses in plain sight.
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- The Cancer Centre Is Closed — But Cancer Isn’t
The shutdown of the Antigua & Barbuda Cancer Centre is one of the most disgraceful public-health failures in our history. Cancer is a daily battle. But instead of strengthening the frontline, the government abandoned it completely.
Survival depends on early detection and continuous treatment. But what do cancer patients have now?
Nothing.
They must, wait, hope, sell food to scrape money together, fly to Columbia if they can — and die quietly if they can’t.
“Stable”? No. This is state-sponsored neglect.
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- No PET Scan Machine on the Entire Island — Not One
Antigua & Barbuda wants to market itself as a regional medical hub. But here is the truth:
There is not a single functioning PET scan machine available on this island.
A PET scan is not a luxury. It is one of the most critical tools for diagnosing and staging cancer.
Without it, cancers go undetected, treatments fail, conditions worsen, and lives are lost unnecessarily.
A nation that cannot detect cancer in 2025 is not soaring. It is stuck to the ground, wings clipped, pretending to fly.
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And Even in Death, the System Fails:
Autopsies Delayed, Families Tormented**
A grieving Guyanese father is begging for the autopsy of his dead son — begging for closure, begging for basic dignity, begging for an answer no parent should ever have to beg for.
But the system is so dysfunctional, so poorly run, so starved of resources and accountability, that he cannot bury his child.
What kind of country denies families closure? What kind of administration allows bodies to backlog like paperwork? What kind of leadership looks away?
This isn’t failure. This is cruelty by bureaucracy.
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The Truth: This Administration Is a Public-Health Hazard
Whether in life or in death, this administration has proven itself to be toxic to physical health, dangerous to mental well-being, hostile to human dignity, and ruinous to economic security.
When clinics close, illnesses rise. When cancer treatment collapses, funerals increase. When autopsies stall, families break. When leaders dodge responsibility, nations decline.
Yet we are told to celebrate… what, exactly?
A slogan?
A speech?
A logo?
Healthcare is not campaign messaging —
it is the moral test of a government.
And this government is FAILING.
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Independence Means Telling the Truth
A nation soars when its people are healthy, safe, and treated with dignity — in life and in death.
If the administration wants to call the country “solid, stable, soaring,”
then let it FIRST:
• reopen the clinics,
• restore cancer treatment,
• acquire modern diagnostic tools,
• and stop tormenting grieving families with endless autopsy delays.
Until then, the only theme that fits is this:
“Antigua & Barbuda: A nation failing where it matters most — the health of its people.”