CHILDREN'S LIFE FUND TO BE EXPANDED

CCNTV6

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar made good on her word to put the nation's children first today, with the laying of the Children’s Life Fund (Amendment) Bill, 2025, which brings a number of amendments to allow for sick children to access and receive potentially life-saving aid.  The Health minister had some good news to share as he announced plans  to increase the ceiling for funding.

Transcript

00:00Prime Minister Kamala Pesad-Besasa made good on her word to put the nation's children first today

00:06with the laying of the Children's Life Fund Amendment Bill 2025,

00:11which brings a number of amendments to allow for sick children to access and receive potentially life-saving aid.

00:18The health minister also had some good news to share as he announced plans to increase the ceiling for funding.

00:24There were five cases where the costs would have exceeded one million dollars

00:31and therefore the children's life on authority would have been constrained.

00:34Keep in mind, Mr. Speaker, that many of these citizens who are seeking this care,

00:39an extra $100,000 can make the difference, you know, an extra $200,000 can make the difference.

00:44But the important thing here, Mr. Speaker, is that we have constraints financially, of course,

00:54but when one looks at the record, there would have only been about five or six cases during that period.

01:01So it is something that perhaps the government will be able to manage.

01:04So we're looking at that in terms of increasing the ceiling,

01:07and that would be the subject of one of the amendments.

01:13Close to 400 children accessed a fund.

01:16However, the minister notes the time between initial application and approval and processing also needs to be addressed.

01:25Also among the amendments is the expansion of the list of health conditions which qualify for funding,

01:30as 80 children have been denied access to the fund since its inception.

01:35But just for the benefit of those who might be looking on for the parents and so on of ill children,

01:42we are adding to the schedule in the area of hematology severe aplastic anemia,

01:51beta-thalassemia, which has been one of the conditions that has been refused previously,

01:56sickle cell disease, and inherited bone marrow failure syndromes.

01:59Thank you very much.

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