The medical staff of the KHMH has issued a release saying that it rejects the amalgamation of the KHMH and Universal Health Services. According to a release sent out today, the amalgamation is not in the national interest. The release says that any money to be invested in public healthcare should go to the KHMH. Neurologist Dr. John Sosa who works at the KHMH and Belize Medical Associates today discussed the position of the medical staff of the KHMH.
Dr. John Sosa,
"We do offer tertiary care, not in anything, in what we can afford. We have some neurological services, some neurosurgical services, some cardiological services. So basically we have gone to tertiary care because there is a need that has been seen by Karl Heusner to provide to the people of Belize. So if we provide already some tertiary care, and we could provide much more if we had finances budgeted, why then do we need all of a sudden to say we can't provide it and we need to provide it from another institution. I don't see that as very logical. For example, where do all the trauma cases or the very vast majority of trauma cases go, the gunshots, the car accidents, motor vehicle accidents - Karl Heusner; they don't go to private institutions. So what is that? That is tertiary care so we do offer services to a certain segment of the population that cannot get it anywhere else."
Jules Vasquez,
But now those people under this plan, it would seem, I don't have the working documents, but these people would simply go to Universal.
Dr. John Sosa,
"And then who pays for it?"
Jules Vasquez,
The same people who are paying for it right now. You know that only a small percentage of those who go to KHMH, it is about one-sixth, actually pays their bills.
Dr. John Sosa,
"So government of Belize pays for it."
Jules Vasquez,
And the government of Belize will pay for it at Universal.
Dr. John Sosa,
"But what price will they pay? We don't know. Universal has a very large outstanding loan to pay. We don't know what they will charge, no one knows and that is part of the problem, no one knows exactly what is happening. Only the Minister of Health maybe knows and no one else knows, we need to know. We are people directly affected so we need to know what will be the cost."
Jules Vasquez,
Might not the resistance, this release sent out by the professional staff of the KHMH, be just simply that they don't know and fear of the unknown?
Dr. John Sosa,
"We could always say you have fear of the unknown but in this case, what we do know is this: there is a deal that government takes two-thirds and the present Universal people take a third. We know there is that deal. How would we pay for that two-thirds or that third that Universal has, we don't know? Will they subsidize directly, will they have patients going from Karl Heusner to Universal, we don't know. Will people from Universal come to KHMH to work? We don't know. We know nothing."
Jules Vasquez,
Might it not be the case here that thee is a workable way to do this, it is just that regrettably the medical staff nor the administration nor the board have been informed of the plan, but might it not be that if you just give the thing a chance...
Dr. John Sosa,
"There is a workable way. The workable work is that government of Belize takes over 100% of Universal and then amalgamates that into Karl Heusner and then Karl Heusner does what it thinks is best with the people and the equipment and the services it offers. And the consensus is that basically we the public, the taxpayers, will have to pay down the road, eventually, for basically someone else's loan and we are not in agreement that the cost of healthcare can and probably will suffer at Karl Heusner because that money could be better spent at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital to provide improved services to people."
Jules Vasquez,
How far is the medical staff prepared to go to, if it has taken a position opposing this amalgamation, how far is it prepared to go because government has?
Dr. John Sosa,
"We have yet to reach that point of decision. We have had some discussions, we have decided that we will try and publicize the matter, however we can. We would have thought that maybe we could get some legal consultation one what we can do but we have yet to decide exactly what route we will go. We can't say we will shut down the place or that, we have not decided that yet so we really don't know what point we will reach. When that time comes, we probably we will have to do something maybe drastic but I don't know as yet."
The Minister of Health Jose Coye has promised to meet with the board of the KHMH to discuss the amalgamation proposal.
