Health Minister Patrice Minors told Members of Parliament an organisation is needed to co-ordinate the Island's health care services, ensuring the best and most cost-efficient healthcare for Bermudians.

The Bermuda Health Council Act 2004 allows for a health council to be created, she said, which would perform that function.

The Health Council would perform as a regulatory body with respect to health services, ensuring health standards are kept at their highest and regulating health service providers and professionals.

It would also manage the health insurance plan under the Hospital Insurance Act and licence health insurers, as well as set goals for the health care system and make recommendations to the Minister on what should be prioritised.

The Council would licence health service providers and regulate the price of drugs sold to the public, and conduct research with respect to public health. It would also commission audited reviews of the healthcare system, she said.

However Shadow Health Minister Michael Dunkley said he was "surprised" at the lack of information in the Minister's presentation.

Saying there is a healthcare crisis in Bermuda, he cited specific concerns about the rapidly increasing costs and particularly the over-utilisation of certain healthcare services on the Island which may be adding to those costs.

He also questioned the wisdom of setting up "another Government body that is ineffective and unaccountable", and asked: "Is this the best way forward?"

The Act makes the drastic change of removing control from the Minister of Health and her Ministry, and giving it to the Council, he said.

He likened the idea of the Health Council to the Bermuda Housing Corporation, saying people were not comfortable with the BHC's track record and voicing his concern that the correct people are picked for the Health Council - not political supporters or "people you know".

Mr. Dunkley also noted the Act did not say how many staff would be hired, and that there was no funding set aside in the Budget 2004 statement, asking if money would be taken away from the Ministry of Health's budget.

And the legislation was "senseless" regarding regulations if Government were to continue its failure to table annual reports, he said. "Clearly when I see that section (regarding annual reports) I just laugh ...If the Government is not going to ask for reports to be tabled in the House of Assembly, don't put it in the legislation."

MPs cannot have an informed debate on the issues without such key information, he said. Mr. Dunkley questioned if members of the healthcare industry are aware of particulars of the legislation, saying Ms Minors had not mentioned a community buy-in to the idea of a Health Council.

Transport Minister and physician Dr. Ewart Brown called on leaders within the medical industry "to answer this call" for a Health Council.

Speaking in reference to a slew of reports over the years which have not been followed through, he said: "The problem has less to do with the specifics of each report than with the will of the political and medical leadership to make it happen."

Though individual doctors may not know the details of the legislation, he said bodies such as the Bermuda Medical Society and the Bermuda Medical Association did and have been involved in the process for years.

It was up to those organisations to pass the message down the line, he added.

Government will find the people it believes are best for the job, he said, though he added they may not be the people Mr. Dunkley would have picked.

When the Opposition accused him of having a self-interest in the bill, he replied otherwise, saying most doctors do not like the idea of Government "interfering" with how they do business.

Shadow Transport Minister Wayne Furbert asked again why Government felt the Health Council was necessary, saying he understood the Minister already has the power to control the rates charged in the healthcare industry.

"This is leading me to the conclusion that she doesn't know why she's actually doing this," he said to protests from Government.

He noted how powerful the council would be, and asked how it would be financed and how much it would cost. "Just give them a blank cheque and let them do what they want."

Mr. Furbert also argued the Minister would have too much of a role in the council.

He said that the Minister should have an "arms length" relationship and the council should be more independent.

Ruling party backbencher and former Health Minister Nelson Bascome reminded the House that a Health Council was recommended by the Oughton report which had been commissioned by the UBP.

He said health care involved a lot of money and insurers and doctors make more money year after year.

He added that the legislation will allow all sectors involved in health care to come under one roof.

"We've have two separate Ministries dealing with one function and we need to have a central body."

Mr. Bascome said while private institutions were well funded 'our public health system is definitely failing."

And he pointed to the National Office of Ageing, a diabetes prevention programme and strides made in paying for overseas health care as some of the Government's successes in the field.

Opposition Leader Dr. Grant Gibbons, however, backed Mr. Furbert's criticisms and added that Government was only trying to pass the buck on healthcare.

"Government's handling of health care since 1998 is a train wreck," Dr. Gibbons declared.

His party had "grave concerns" about the bill and the future of health care.

The Health Council would only add another layer of bureaucracy and "there is no guarantee that it will be successful," he said.

Shadow Labour, Home Affairs and Public Safety Minister Maxwell Burgess asked for more direction from the Health Ministry since Government had "sufficient enough control" to indicate the direction they would like the Council to go in regards to healthcare.

He said the Council needed to have a clear mandate, and he added: "I'm duty bound to point out that the council will only have one opportunity to get off on a good start."

In Committee, Ms Minors read the proposed functions of the Council which included snsuring the provision of essential health services, regulating the price of drugs, licencing health care providers, and regulating health service providers.

Mr. Dunkley accused Government of "political posturing", adding "this all sounds good, but I'd like to have some details about how this would work".

Dr. Gibbons also questioned the "strong wording" of some of the clauses, and questioned how the Council could absolutely "ensure" essential health services.

Opposition MPs Mr. Dunkley, Mr. Furbert, Dr. Gibbons and Patricia Gordon-Pamplin all called for clearly defined terms of appointment for members of the Council.

Ms. Minors replied that the length of terms would vary "to ensure continuity" and would be indicated in the initial appointment document.

Nevertheless, Mr. Dunkley proposed a number of amendments to the Bill, including information intended to clarify the distinction between "normal members" and "ex-officio members" of the Council.

After reviewing the proposed amendments, Government Party Whip Ottiwell Simmons asked that Opposition withdraw the amendments on the grounds that they were "superfluous" - a charge which the Opposition refused.

Dr. Gibbons asked Ms Minors if the Bill included the ability to regulate and have access to overseas health services, but Ms Minors said the bill pertains only to Bermuda.

Dr. Gibbons said pointed out that many Bermudians travel abroad under Hospital Insurance Programme (HIP) or private health care, and Ms Minors replied that the Council will work to achieve better overseas care.