The KHMH, it was supposed to have been closed down, condemned, sold off, and then, driven into extinction by sleek private investors. But none of that happened, and through it all, the hospital has endured, despite its critics and doubters, and in spite of itself. Today it celebrated 9 years of existence and the CEO told us that this cat just won't die:
Dr. Alvaro Rosado – C.E.O. KHMH
“The hospital is like a cat it has nine lives. We have bounced back after every attack and I think we are on firm footting now. Why is that so? I think it’s so because of the Belizean public. The Belizean people will criticize but in the end I think the majority realize that the facility we have is their facility and one that will provide the service that they need. Nobody gets turned away from the KHMH despite some rumors you may have been hearing every now and then. We will not refrain from treating anybody or giving any kind of service including certificates and papers whatever it is that they might need because don’t have money."
Q:“Will the KHMH ever be financially viable?”
“Jules I don’t think that in my lifetime or in my tenure of KHMH we will be, ever be viable in the sense that we will collect enough money for our services from the public to pay for our expenses. And I don’t think that is our intention. There must be some public facility. I think the government of Belize has recognized this and the government of Belize has invested heavily in the KHMH, this is the people’s hospital it is the people’s taxes that pay for it so to answer your question: financial viability only if we consider the contributions from the people through the government then we are financially viable.”
Q: “Right now how strapped is this hospital for critical health care supplies?”
Jules I would say that this probably one of the times we have had our most critical challenge in terms of material supplies. But this is because the minister that took over, the minister of health, insisted that we needed to have a very transparent system for acquisition of pharmaceuticals. Karl Heusner and the other hospitals do not buy their own drugs they are bought by the ministry in bulk. What the ministry did was to put out a tender and they evaluated all the people that submitted bids and that is the laps that we had in between that time. So for the last two months or so we have been very, very strapped but things are getting better and we assume that within a month or two we will be better off than we have ever been before.”
Q: “How directly is this affecting the manner of healthcare that patients receive?”
“Jules I’m glad that I have this opportunity to say that we are short of materials but our doctors, our nurses, our cleaners are very creative and they have used substitutes for what they needed. The doctors have substituted things that they would never have thought of. Maybe it is a good thing that we go though these to remind us that there are times when we have to do without the high-tech businesses that we have.”
At today's event, outstanding nurses, midwives, nurses' aids and support personnel were honored for long service. They are Eleanor Sutherland who has served 35 years, Janice Avaloy and Sylvia Kemp who have served 32 years, Cleopatra tucker who has served 30 years, Olivia Struaghan who has served 28 years, Diana Palacio who has served 27 years, Edith Lizama who has served 26 years, and Betty Gillett, Alice Dominguez and, Maureen Waight who have all worked for 25 years.