Health in the Bahamas

The public healthcare system is supported by the Ministry of Health & Wellness (MOHW), the Department of Public Health (DPH), the Public Hospitals Authority (PHA), Grand Bahama Health Services (GBHS), NEMS, and the Bahamas National Drug Agency (BNDA). Licensed private general practitioners, clinics, laboratories, and hospitals operate alongside them. A 2024 inventory listed nine DPH clinics on New Providence, approximately 88 clinics on the Family Islands, and ten GBHS clinics; the exact number and type of service depend on the survey date and source. The DPH provides local primary care through Community Health Clinics, Health Centres, Polyclinics, and Main and Satellite Clinics. The three public hospitals are Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) in Nassau, Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre (SRC) on New Providence, and Rand Memorial Hospital (RMH) in Freeport. PMH has 405 beds and more than 31 specialist and subspecialist areas. RMH has 85 beds. The SRC is responsible nationwide for mental illness, addiction treatment, and geriatric care; it includes a Geriatrics Hospital with 128 beds, a Psychiatric Hospital with 367 beds, and the outpatient Community Counselling & Assessment Centre (CCAC). In an acute emergency, the route is through 911 or 919, NEMS, and the nearest Accident and Emergency department. For planned or preventive needs, care usually begins at a local clinic, with a private general practitioner, or at a Health Centre. Primary care can coordinate laboratory and diagnostic appointments and referrals to specialists or hospitals. After discharge, follow-up may take place in primary care, rehabilitation, the SRC, or the CCAC, depending on need. Where services are limited on an island, an inter-island referral or medical air transport may be required. The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) administers the NHI. Its current coverage focuses on outpatient primary care. Bahamian citizens and people lawfully living in the Bahamas with an NIB identification card (NIB Smart Card) and six months of ordinary residence under the National Health Insurance Act 2025 can generally participate. Registration is available online, in person, by email, or through WhatsApp; after selecting a registered public or private general practitioner or laboratory, confirmation or an access notification should take no more than ten working days. Covered services have no co-payment or deductible at the point of care. The current NHI offering includes general and annual check-ups, vaccinations, antenatal care, examinations of infants and children, growth, hearing, vision, and developmental screenings, tuberculosis and asthma care, testing for sexually transmitted infections, HIV, and sickle-cell disease, cancer screening, and monitoring for high blood pressure, diabetes, and elevated cholesterol. Certain kidney and liver tests, chronic-disease management, and mental-health screenings are also included. Medicines and pharmacy services, diagnostic imaging such as CT or MRI, emergency treatment, heart-attack or fracture care, inpatient treatment, surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, childbirth, complex pregnancy care, rehabilitation, dental, vision, and physiotherapy services, oncology, and treatment abroad are currently outside the package. Depending on the case, these may require public funding, private insurance, or personal payment. The BNDA procures and controls medicines for public institutions. Separately, the National Insurance Board (NIB) administers the national prescription drug plan (National Prescription Drug Plan (NPDP)) and the ACE Rx Card for eligible people with certain chronic conditions and the applicable medicine formularies. A planned integration of the NPDP into the NHIA had not been implemented uniformly nationwide in the September 2026 research status and should be confirmed currently. Pharmacies and pharmaceutical providers are subject to licensing under the Pharmacy Act and oversight by the Pharmacy Council. Mental healthcare follows the Mental Health Act 2022, which has been in force since 1 September 2024. It emphasizes person-centred treatment, voluntary consent, and the least restrictive care possible where the situation allows. Among other rights, people receiving care have rights to information, participation, dignity, self-determination, communication, access to their records, and protection from discrimination. The Mental Health Care Board and the Mental Health Review Tribunal perform statutory oversight and review functions; the 2026 to 2030 strategy also provides for stronger community-based teams. Medical procedures generally require informed voluntary consent; consent must be in writing for surgery. Health data and treatment records are confidential. Disclosure without consent is permitted only in cases provided for by law or to prevent a serious danger. Reporting duties may apply to certain infectious diseases under the Health Services Act. Health planning in the Bahamas focuses strongly on noncommunicable diseases. PAHO data for 2019 attributed 75.4 percent of age-adjusted mortality shares to noncommunicable diseases, 10.7 percent to communicable diseases, and 13.9 percent to external causes. Cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and diabetes together caused 38.4 percent of lost healthy life years. Reported values for overweight and obesity were 75.8 percent in 2022, the tobacco rate was 10.7 percent in 2023, measles vaccination coverage was 80 percent in 2022, and life expectancy was 74.7 years in 2024. Prevention, chronic diseases, maternal and child health, ageing, mental health, medicine supplies, digital patient records, and services for the Family Islands are therefore central tasks. Opening hours, specific services, specialist appointments, transfer options, and medicine formularies may differ by island and facility. No single nationwide, stable clinic directory or fee schedule was available at the time of research; these details should be confirmed directly with the responsible facility or provider before treatment.