Cash transfers of $500 are continuing every month to qualifying citizens and residents as the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis provides support under the Poverty Alleviation Programme (PAP).

Estimates on government expenditure for the PAP will run in the neighbourhood of $30 million to $40 million this year as persons continue to register for support, while others graduate as their economic situation improves. Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, the Honourable Dr. Terrance Drew, said that the government is working to enhance opportunities so that people can enjoy a better quality of life.

“We are talking about building a sustainable island state, and that (PAP) is not a sustainable process … No country can really sustain that,” the prime minister stated during The Roundtable Discussion with members of the media on May 11, 2023. “We don’t have oil here. We don’t have diamonds nor pearls; we depend fundamentally on tourism; we have the CBI (Citizenship by Investment) programme … but PAP is really not sustainable the way it was established.”

Instead, the government’s focus is centred on empowering people with initiatives such as increasing the minimum wage and expanding opportunities for work as a means to address poverty.

“We want to help people to grow well through home ownership, land ownership, and increased wages. Get better educated; start a small business; sharpen your skills; get out into the workforce and produce,” Prime Minister Dr. Drew said.

Dr. Drew said that this will help the country to be built on merit and create additional opportunities for productive persons to be gainfully engaged while the $500 PAP cash transfers assist the most vulnerable in society.

With much talk about former West Indian British colonies removing the British monarch as the head of state with the objective of advancing the process of full decolonization or independence, St. Kitts and Nevis’ Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Terrance said that the people are the ones who will decide if it is time to do so or do so at all.

“I don’t have a timeline. As we said to them the people will be asked this question and I think the people will provide the answer as well and so I cannot give a timeline,” Prime Minister Dr. Drew said. “But, I think I would be able to say that during this time the people would be asked to discuss this. It’s critical.”

“I mean, we have gone from slavery all the way up to this point and the question of where do we go as a nation will always be asked and it is being asked. However, in pursuing that the people would decide if that is what they want to pursue,” the prime minister added.

He said that even if St. Kitts and Nevis were to go the way of becoming a republic, the significant relationships will remain.

“St. Kitts and Nevis will still remain a member of the Commonwealth and will still be a developmental partner with the UK (United Kingdom) and we will still have the opportunity to strengthen our bonds with the UK, so they are two different things really,” he said. “One doesn’t directly influence the other. One is not exclusive of the other, and so if our people decide to pursue this path this has really nothing to do with our bonds with the Commonwealth or our bonds with the UK.”

Prime Minister Dr. Drew spoke to the common principles shared between both jurisdictions, St. Kitts and Nevis and the UK, and of the many nationals who live and work in the UK.

“There are a lot of principles that join us together—principles of democracy and so forth…development, principles of protecting the earth and renewable energy. Our past history, the fact that we have so many of our people living in the UK, working in the UK, that’s a special bond and that will never really be broken,” he said.

“I will actually pursue to strengthen that bond, which is a separate question, of course, to who is head of state,” the Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis said

The Government of St. Kitts and Nevis, under the leadership of Prime Minister and Minister of Health, the Honourable Dr. Terrance Drew, has made great strides in improving the standard of healthcare delivery in the Federation through procuring critical pieces of medical equipment, training medical personnel and introducing the services of medical specialists at the Joseph N. France General Hospital. 

However, Prime Minister Dr. Drew said his government intends to do more for the people of St. Kitts and Nevis. During The Roundtable interview with members of the media on Thursday, May 11, 2023, Dr. Drew said the Ministry of Health intends on widening the scope of services offered here in St. Kitts and Nevis as it is now exploring the possibility of having renal transplant being done at the JNF Hospital. Preliminary discussions have already been held with a specialist in this regard. 

“I know we have received the dialysis machine; we have received the general surgeons and increased the surgical equipment for anaesthesiology. I am bringing in a very experienced anesthesiologist. I have already spoken to him–he is Kittitian born–to join our experienced team that is already there. I am touching base with the lab to do the cross-matching that would tell you if someone can receive a kidney from someone else and the surgeon who I am bringing here in the next six weeks, we are going to start [looking at] the possibility of having renal transplant here. I am going to push it so that next year we can really pursue our first renal transplant in St. Kitts,” Prime Minister Dr. Drew said. 

Renal, or kidney transplant, is the transfer of a healthy kidney from one person into the body of another person who has little or no kidney function.

The health minister said these types of medical services are becoming more necessary in today’s society. 

“There are a lot of our people who are on dialysis. Dialysis helps significantly and we need to pursue it. I would always say that prevention is better; control the blood pressure, the blood sugar, your weight and what you eat; these are the most important things but for those who are already ill we want to do all that we can to help them, and dialysis is very good, but the best way is to have a renal transplant. Renal transplant is becoming routine and when I see all the patients who go to JNF for dialysis, these young people, why can’t they have a renal transplant? Their brother might be able to donate, their sister, their cousin, a friend or a good Samaritan that would give them a new lease on life that of course they cannot totally and fully enjoy just on dialysis,” Prime Minister Dr. Drew added.

 The Cable will provide fibre optic services for the Health Information System (HIS) as the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis continues to modernize and improve healthcare.

Prime Minister and Minister of Health, the Honourable Dr. Terrance Drew, shared the update during a press engagement on Thursday (May 11, 2023).

“The Cable has won the bid to build out our healthcare system with fibre optic cables,” stated Prime Minister Dr. Drew. “We are going to connect all the health institutions – the three hospitals and the health centres – and we want all our private partners like private doctors, pharmacies, and so, to also connect.”

The HIS database will store all information related to an individual’s medical history. However, access to information will be strictly restricted based on a user’s clearance level thereby ensuring privacy for patients.

The prime minister gave a practical example of one of the many benefits of the system.

“If you go to the doctor in Sandy Point and you come to the pharmacy in town [Basseterre], they can actually just be able to type in and see what medication you had,” said Dr. Drew, explaining that many persons often do not know what medication is prescribed.

This will help to eliminate any miscommunication.

It is expected that the system will be delivered in early 2024.

Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, Hon. Dr. Terrance Drew, has given his guarantee and made it pellucid that the “housing revolution” that his government is about to embark upon will have an over 90 percent pool of workers from St. Kitts and Nevis.

Prime Minister Dr. Drew made those comments in a roundtable interview with media representatives on May 11, 2023, at the Koi Resort.  

“Nobody is going to come into St. Kitts and Nevis building houses for our people and our people are not the contractors,” he said. “Our people must be the contractors, the painters, the roofers, the carpenters, the masons, the heavy equipment operators…steel benders and whoever else is involved in the construction of these homes.”

On May 5, 2023, the Minister responsible for Housing & Human Settlement, the Hon. Dr. Geoffrey Hanley, in an address to the Nation, formally announce that “the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis and National Housing Corporation (NHC) have signed a contract with East Coast Housing Development, a Trinidadian based developer, to finance and deliver 2,400 affordable smart homes over a period of 4 years, 600 of which will be made available each year.”

Prime Minister Dr. Drew said that there is a provision in the contract for the quality assurance of the houses and that workers in St. Kitts and Nevis must be the ones to benefit from this investment.

“Part of our commitment to the people of St. Kitts and Nevis is that we will build houses…and the reason why we are pursuing this is for the number of reasons—one, people need houses; two, it gives you a chance to build wealth and three, it gives you a real stake in the country,” Prime Minister Dr. Drew said.

The prime minister said that NHC will soon be hosting a housing fair and launching a website with information on the housing development where people will be able to make an online application.

All homes will be built and equipped with a refrigerator, stove and solar water heater for EC$ 111,000 for a one (1) bedroom, EC$ 213,000 for a two (2) bedroom and EC$297,000 for a three (3) bedroom.