Bridgetown.
Doctors at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, who practice defensive medicine are costing Barbados' major health care fecility money.
Speaking at QEH's 48th anniversary service at the First Baptist Church on Constitution Road, Dr Dexter James the CEO of the hospital said, the practice of defensive medicine by doctors because of the litigious health care environment and the high cost of medical malpractice coverage are contributing to the deficits at the island's main health institution.
Defensive medicne is designed to avert the future possibility of malpractice suits but experts says it drives up health care cost. For example, doctors may order test procedures, or visits, or avoid high risk patients or procedures primarily to reduce their exposure to malpractice liability.
James said the services currently offered by the QEH could not be sustained with the current level of funding.
"We understand the fiscal realities facing the country, like elsewhere in the world and advance that constructive debate around new modalities of mobilizing and allocating funds to the health sector must be sponsored by policymakers. We implore policymakers to engage the population on a referendum on this issue of healthcare financing at the hospital, so that we address financing at reform at the hospital in a meanful way", James stated. 
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