Monday January 22, 2018
Kaieteur News
Sparman’s way to ease impact Daily Nation - Dr Alfred Sparman has a three-pronged approach to dealing with the increase prices of medical supplies and equipment. Keep the cost of patient care the same, round up patients and source cheaper supplies. And this, he said, had been working at the Belleville, St Michael Sparman Clinic. “Our prices we have kept the same because times are hard. We approached this NSRL [National Social Responsibility Levy] with a team effort. We called all our old patients who we have not
seen for a while and brought them back into the fold; so by increasing the volume of patients we nullified that effect.” The cardiologist believes that any price increase at this time would have a negative effect on his business. “That would decrease the number of patients coming to me and I wouldn’t benefit,” he admitted. “So we have been bringing in these old patients and calling them and it has worked out good for us. We have gone to the point where we feel we have to take care of the patients’ needs.
We feel if we increase prices it would put a load on the hospital and it will really affect patient care. I am very optimistic that in the future things will turn around.” As to the increase in supplies and equipment brought about by the controversial tax, Sparman said his procurement team was sourcing the best prices. “I tell them get me four prices and I choose the cheapest. We have suppliers all over the place in the US and China, so we have to make the business costeffective.”
Spurned by Trump, Europeans ponder how to meet Iran ultimatum
Britain’s Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson attends a news conference with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, German counterpart Sigmar Gabriel and European Union’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini after meeting Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (unseen). REUTERS/Francois Lenoir Less. PARIS/BRUSSELS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A day before Donald Trump’s Jan. 12 ultimatum to “fix” the Iran nuclear deal, European powers met Iran’s foreign minister to show support for it, but the effort failed to soften Trump’s aversion to the accord, U.S. and European officials said. The gathering in Brussels may even have reinforced the U.S. president’s antipathy, according to three U.S. officials involved in the discussions. Trump instead gave the European allies, Britain, France, Germany, and the U.S. Congress 120 days to come up with a tougher approach on Tehran or see U.S. sanctions reimposed, they said. With Trump warning of a last chance for “the worst deal ever negotiated”, Britain, France and Germany have begun talks on a plan to satisfy him by addressing Iran’s ballistic missile tests and its regional influence while preserving the 2015 accord that curbed Iran’s nuclear ambitions for at least a decade. It is hard to say what might mollify the Trump administration, which is split between those who would like to tear up the agreement and those who wish to preserve it and which has said inconsistent things about its demands to keep the accord, U.S. and European officials said. Under U.S. law, Trump must decide again whether to renew the U.S. sanctions relief
every 120 days, giving Congress, as well as U.S. and European diplomats, until mid-May to see if there is a way to finesse the issue. But the Brussels meeting has left European powers wary that whatever they agree, it may not be enough. “We’re going to work in the spirit that we’re ready to talk about everything, from the nuclear accord to Iran’s ballistic missiles,” said a senior European diplomat. “But we want to compartmentalise the subjects; we’re not going to mix them.” At stake is not just an historic accord negotiated - before Trump took office - by the United States, China, France, Russia, Britain, Germany and the European Union, and one that Europe sees as its biggest diplomatic achievement in decades. A collapse of the nuclear deal could see a breakdown in the relations between the United States and Europe that have underpinned the West’s security since World War Two, European diplomats and the senior U.S. official said, and could confirm Europe’s fears that it can no longer count on U.S. leadership. Britain, France, Germany and the EU’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, are adamant that the deal cannot be renegotiated, while Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also ruled that out this month, speaking at the United Nations.
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