BRIDGETOWN, BARBADOS, 8th August 2019 (PSCU)– First Lady Margaret Kenyatta has said Kenya is keen to learn from the Barbados model of universal healthcare.

She spoke after an extensive tour of the Edgar Cochrane Polyclinic, a specialist mother and baby medical facility located in downtown Bridgetown, Barbados.

During the hospital visit, the First Lady met and interacted with new mothers, most of whom had come for postnatal care, and their babies.

The First Lady who was received at the facility by Barbados Health Minister Lucille Moe and her Information counterpart Dr Bany Wand was taken round the model public health facility which offers free maternal and child healthcare including dental, nutritional and counseling services to over 30,000 patients annually.

Speaking after the guided tour, the First Lady said the centre was an excellent example of how a universal health system should be set up.

"I am impressed by what I have seen at this facility. The world class services given to mothers and their babies are what should comprise of a working universal health system," the First Lady said.

She said that as Kenya rolls out her universal healthcare plan, the country will take lessons from Barbados especially in the area of mother and child wellness.

Started as a medical training school in 1981, the Edgar Cochrane Polyclinic has grown over the decades to become one of the largest public health facilities in the region with 8 centres spread across the country serving over 280,000 patients.

The hospital serves patients from across the 15 nations that make up the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) among them Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti and Jamaica.