NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (February 18, 2014) — Deputy Premier of Nevis and Minister of Health Hon. Mark. Brantley described a gift of medical supplies, donated by Global Faith Alliance through a partnership with Pastor Davidson Morton of the Eden Browne Church of God in Butlers Village, bound for the Alexandra Hospital as invaluable.
The Health Minister expressed gratitude for the mixed bag of medical supplies when they were handed over at his Bath Plain office on February 17, 2014, in the presence of the Hospital’s Administrative Officer Mr. Johnson Morton.
“What can I say but thank you Pastor Morton? Thank you personally for being involved and for shepherding this. This has now been a relationship that as you say started with a conversation in 2007. It now means this has been going on for nearly a decade and I am hopeful that it can prosper for a very long time.
“So thank you very much and on behalf of the government and people and the Ministry of Health of this beautiful island of Nevis, I say thank you and I warmly receive these gifts and hope that we can be in a position that we can continue this partnership over the long term,” he said.
The Health Minister also registered thanks to the donors for their continued contribution and partnership.
“I also want to go on record in thanking Pastor Dr. Leman Bates, who is also a pastor and to thank the Global Faith Alliance. I think this kind of partnership and this kind of contribution…is invaluable.
“It’s the kind of partnership where no matter the quantity, just the fact that people elsewhere see that Nevis is in a particular position where they can help and are prepared to help. This is not based on family, it is not based on friendship, it is really based on them seeing a need and them trying to satisfy that need and to look out for others and I think that really is the lesson,” he said.
The Health Minister also thanked the faith-based organisation for its continued commitment to health care on Nevis and to its people. He stated that the timely gift of supplies would assist the Ministry of Health in its quest to provide and improve the health care sector on the island.
“We are very thankful and whilst you say that this is not as much as have come in the past, we are still very grateful and we would like for you, very much, to record our appreciation to Dr. Bates and his team. We look forward to a long-term relationship with them [and] in any way that we can partner we would be delighted to do so,” he said.
Meantime, Pastor Morton, in brief remarks, spoke to the partnership forged with the faith-based organisation and its benefits to the people of Nevis since their first visit in 2008.
“When they came to Nevis, we set up some [medical] teams around the island, one in Gingerland, one in Jessups, one in Eden Brown and they had, I think, about 12 doctors with them. The following year they came back. I think [for] three consecutive years. Last year there were no medical teams but the medical supplies have been brought.
“What I observed is that, they had given to St. Kitts the value of what they told me was about $10 million in terms of supplies and so far, for the past three years since we have been receiving supplies from Global Faith Alliance, I think we are just about over $2 million in terms of supplies…
“I think last year or the year before they gave much more, in fact, we had to get a flat bed truck to go to St. Kitts to bring over all the supplies from St. Kitts and so we are very grateful for the supplies that have been received from Dr. Leman Bates, who is the head of Global Faith Alliance.
According to Pastor Morton, the Alliance also provides medical care and supplies in other parts of the world among them Asia and in particular Africa.
END