 Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I stand to support the resolution which was moved by the Minister for Finance and Prime Minister of St. Lucia, and I agree with him, Mr. Speaker, that it is revolutionary. Although the member of Foch-Wazale indicated that this government continues what other governments have done before, and I am sure it is not in the same way. And I know the Minister for Finance will clarify, but Mr. Speaker, before I continue, I wish for you to give me a few seconds just to congratulate the police. I want to join my colleagues to congratulate the police, the revelers, all of the team, the team members, the leaders. I want to pay special tribute to my colleague, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Member of Parliament for Kastri South for his still-in-leadership over the last few months in the carnival, the Calypso and so on. We had practically an incident-free season. I want to also congratulate everyone, the band leaders, the creators, all those who have joined us here in the parliament, and those who made St. Lucia Carnival what it was. Julian Alfred, we have all expressed our joy, and I also want to, on behalf of the people of V4 North, congratulate her and wish her well as she continues. Mr. Speaker, I wish, before I say a few words on this resolution, just to say a very special thanks to the professionals, the medical professionals in St. Lucia who over the years have attempted and in some respects very successfully, some of them have established medical practices, professional, very sought-after services in St. Lucia, and they have provided a space for the people of St. Lucia to access high-quality services. Mr. Speaker, many of them have established whether it be at the private hospital or in their own private offices, and if you go around the country, especially in the V4 area, the castries area and so on, the north of the island, in the south of the island, you see more and more medical professionals establishing not just offices, not just the traditional doctors' offices, but you realize they're establishing services almost like mini-hospitals. You go to establishments and you can see many professionals all at once, and you get a sense based on evidence that the doctors in St. Lucia, the medical professionals, whether they be providing dialysis services or other services, are really expanding their services, and this resolution will assist them in that regard. I recently returned from a trip, a tour of the new hospital which has been constructed in Guadalupe, and Mr. Speaker, it is amazing to see the kind of equipment that they have over there, I'm sure, in Martinique, neighbor in Martinique, same thing, and you would think, Mr. Speaker, that it is just the skills, but it's not just their skills. We have doctors and professionals in St. Lucia who can do just the same, and as the Prime Minister said a while ago, what we are lacking is a lot of the equipment, and I know for a fact, Mr. Speaker, that even as we speak, there are medical professionals in St. Lucia who have applied for certain waivers, who have applied to the cabinet, and very soon, I'm sure you'll hear announcements of some very advanced services that will be provided by them to St. Lucia, and so Mr. Speaker, when our people travel to Martinique or Guadalupe or other countries, it is not because our professionals do not have the skills. There are some very complicated surgeries that have been carried out in St. Lucia, not too long ago, a constituent of mine, God bless him and his doctors, a constituent of mine just collapsed in his garden, a very good friend of mine, Mr. Speaker, and it was found that he had some severe trauma in his brain. Mr. Speaker, sometime ago, when you hear things like that, you would not believe that there are medical professionals in St. Lucia, particularly one of them, Mr. Speaker, who opens up your skull, removes your part of your scalp, surgical procedure on your brain, and right now this gentleman is fine after surgery. So there are some very good examples of neurosurgeons and other medical professionals in St. Lucia who are sought after and who have really done well and who are developing medical tourism services in St. Lucia and also services for our own people. Even before I go into the details of the resolution, Mr. Speaker, I always like as Minister for Health, Wellness and Elderly Affairs to encourage St. Lucia to not only check your doctor and your medical professionals very regularly, but also to carry out all your tests, your colonoscopy tests, all of your tests, especially as we grow older, especially us men, especially us, especially Mr. Speaker, the tradition is that men don't don't like to go to the doctors. The tradition is that Mr. Speaker, the doctors tell you when a lady, any little ink, the lady feels. It doesn't matter where in her body, she's at the doctor, but the men, you know, we like to, you know, we macho and we don't want to go to the doctor until it's too late. So I always like Mr. Speaker to say those things and to say also that just as the government is encouraging us to contribute 2.5 percent for the health and security levy, when I speak to people, I always say to them, put a little thing aside for your health. Put a little thing aside just as you have your savings. Put a little 25 cents, a little 50 cents, a little $2, $5, depends on what you're making. Put something aside for your health. Pay the NIC. Even though you are working for yourself, Mr. Speaker, pay your little NIC, go to the NIC, self-employed people, you can do that and put something aside for your health. Too many of us, I'm not the only one, Mr. Speaker, you, they come to you, people visit all of us and your relatives. When it's too late, dialysis, all kinds of conditions, when it's too late and then you realize some people maybe through difficulty or challenges, they're not working, but those who can, those who can, put a little something aside for your health. Those of us, Mr. Speaker, who help other people, if we can, who help our relatives and so on, if you can give them $20 and you can put a little extra five for them, put a little something aside for the health, because all the doctors will tell you, most of us visit them, most of us quickly go when it's too late and a lot of the diagnosis, a lot of the diagnostics can be done when we check things early. So I always like to say that. So Mr. Speaker, I support this resolution and just very quickly to let honorable members know why we need to do this and what role the various pieces of equipment play. We know about the CT scan, Mr. Speaker. Most people now know what's a CT scan and why we do it. It combines X-ray images from different angles of your body. So you want a CT scan of different parts of your body, Mr. Speaker. That's very, very important. And sometimes we take these things for granted, but not all of the doctors, most of the doctors would love to have access to a good CT scan. And you know, Mr. Speaker, a good CT scan at the lower level would cost about $130,000 US dollars. So you can understand why the medical professionals would want to get relief so that they now can assist the people of St. Lucia. An endoscopy, that one, most doctors, most people, well, let me not say most, but many people who have gone to doctors would know what an endoscopy is. It's a little tube with a small camera inside. It goes through your body, through your mouth, and the doctor can check. So it's important, no, no, no. Far from that, far from Dr. Moussa. But I think it's important for us to explain to the people what these things are so that if we are going to waive that, it's important for the doctors to have a good CT scan. Atheroscopy, Mr. Speaker, we are also doing it for that. And one of the, although it's small, one of it can cost about $11,500 US. And it's a little incision. It's mainly for the joints to investigate the joints, Mr. Speaker. Atheroscopy. It's mainly to investigate your joints. So from the word arthritis, atheroscopy, it's very important. And we also have, by the way, Mr. Speaker, while my colleagues tease me a bit, these can be found, Mr. Speaker. You can just Google them. And I don't want to make anybody think about it. When we're in the parliament, we must encourage the people of St. Lucia while we speak to go and check it out. Check what we're saying to make, check us to make sure that what we're saying, and we on this side, we always give you the real thing. So the, as we know, the histoscopy is from the word hysterectomy, from the word, you know, it has to do with the ladies and so on, and to check. We can go on and on. The ultrasound, Mr. Speaker, echocardiography, ultrasound, you know, cardio has to do with what? With the heart. I spent 32 years as a teacher. So cardio has to do with the heart. So that's very important, very important ultrasound. And our medical professionals are saying to us, more and more, we are finding people in St. Lucia who are coming, who are having challenges with heart disease. So it's very, very important to don't wait until we have something to go check. Just like you do your normal checks, it's good to go to the cardiologist and just check your heart, check your heart to make sure everything is okay. A mammogram. I think most people are familiar with that. Many ladies have gone for the mammogram colonoscopy. And I think we need to, there's a little mistake, I believe, with the spelling there. So it should really be a colonoscopy. And again, that's another one. Many of us are afraid of, people tell you, they don't want to do it. Especially men. It's for your colon. It's a piece of equipment that is push through your rectum and to check whether there are any issues there. Doctors use it to catch colon cancer. No, your colon. Colon cancer. So that's very important. And again, Mr. Speaker, it is something I say that we need to popularize. A lot of those medical tests and so on. We are afraid. Me too, you know, Mr. Speaker, I was very, very afraid of those things, Mr. Speaker. Well, I've done almost all of these. Especially the prostate test, Mr. Speaker, especially your prostate test for men, a lot of men are afraid. I have done all of it. And I was afraid at first, but Mr. Speaker, it is very important. I think as parliamentarians, the more we speak about these things, the more our constituents will feel comfortable to go and do it or do them. Because, Mr. Speaker, at the end of the day, at the end of the day, we do not want to hear our constituents say it was too late. A PSA test to test colon, not colon, sorry, but your prostate to test whether in your blood there are signs and so on for colon cancer, PSA. I think it's about $50, $75 in some cases. But what is $75 or $50 every year? Let's do it. Because at the end of the day, if we catch it early, then the doctors are not me saying so, you know, not me saying so. The doctors are saying, the medical professionals are saying, if we catch them early, then something can be done and our families can save a lot of money. So all of these pieces of equipment are very, very important. A fluoroscopy, Mr. Speaker, is to check your stomach and your intestines. And the MRI, everybody, well, not everybody, but most people know about the MRI because many individuals come to us for assistance to go to Martinique or to go to Barbados and so on. Even in St. Lucia, there are some MRI services. And I know, Mr. Speaker, that there are one or two local companies. One company has actually has set up the building and the equipment. Most of the equipment is here in St. Lucia already and they are setting up the MRI machine. And I know that there are other medical professionals or businesses and they are setting up the MRI. So I can see in the next few years, Mr. Speaker, St. Lucia becoming a hub for medical tourism. But most importantly, Mr. Speaker, yeah, most importantly, we see the private sector working hand in hand with the government and to see how best we can. It's not just government. The government by itself can never establish this medical landscape, can never, no government by itself can do it. So you must work with the private sector, the medical professionals, those who are in medical, in the businesses, the people who make equipment and so on. What we want is for St. Lucia's first and foremost, to have the best medical care at an affordable price. So whatever we can do as a government, we have taxes, whatever we can do to assist the private sector, we will do. And Mr. Speaker, the trouble someone, which is really an endoscopy for the gastrointestinal and lower upper gastro and lower gastro tract, Mr. Speaker, the colon geopancreatography. Really, what does it do? It's really an extra to treat problems of the bile duct and the pancreatic duct, bile and pancreas. So again, Mr. Speaker, it's just a long wait, but if you break it down, it's really, it's not difficult, you know, just break it down. And I encourage all our viewers and members of parliament, once again, before I sit, Mr. Speaker, I encourage everyone to do all of your tests, carnival is over and so on. You have a little, take a little two weeks, drink a lot of water and so on. Go to your doctor, do all of your tests, your prostate, your everything, your mammograph and so on. And at the end of the day, you will save money, you will save money and you will take better charge of your health. So I support this resolution, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.