Also speaking at Minister Coye's press event this morning was KHMH CEO Dr. Alvaro Rosado. And he almost had to speak after medical personnel appeared on KREM's WUB this morning to bomb his management of the hospital. They said there are material shortages, operational failures and other shortcomings that actively undermine the delivery of quality health care at the KHMH. Rosado today told us scarcity is nothing new.
Dr. Alvaro Rosado, KHMH - CEO
"I've been here for six years and there's never been a day when this hospital has not been short of one thing or the other. Nothing is different now. We are short of materials, we are short of pharmaceuticals and that is normal. We are trying to correct that, as a matter of fact tomorrow I expect to get a fairly large consignment of supplies and pharmaceuticals coming in. So the fact that we do not have a specific item is not a big deal in the bigger scheme of things because we do have substitutes.
What we are having is a few people who are trying to incite the rest of the staff to go and protest. We have nothing at all against the individuals exercising their rights, they have the right to protest, they have the right to support their unions, and we support them in that but we cannot have that right encroach on the rights of Belizeans to healthcare. So if somebody is scheduled to work on that day we expect them to work or to officially take leave."
As for air conditioners that the medical staff said were not working, Rosado conceded that in November the central system failed but he says it has been fully restored.
