Senator Godwin Hulse was in Belmopan and he will be there again on Friday. Hulse has been studying the motion that the Prime Minister hopes to take before the House and he says that underneath the spin are some staggering figures showing how much it will cost to run and pay for Universal.
Senator Godwin Hulse,
"This is about healthcare, health services for all. This is no longer about a debt, this is healthcare and so of course in order to acquire these assets, we have to fork up some money. We are getting this money from the Belize Bank to enable us to do that. Well if you want to play that game, let's play that game.
Show me the value of the assets you are getting, show me the numbers, show me what it is going to cost annually. I have worked out that we will be paying about $14 million per year to keep that open and then tell me if that is the best you can do and I will ask each representative if they are satisfied that the acquisition of UHS is for the public good and furtherance of the universal health coverage which the Prime Minister said was successively elected in two terms at a cost of $15.3 million per year and that does not include your bullet payments.
And if you could not do better than that, you will pick up $21 million worth of assets in 2005 value, if that's the accurate value but its on their balance sheet, and you will wind up paying $127 million over a period of time, not to mention $9.96 million per annum operating costs and if that is the best you can do. And if that is for good healthcare where there is the Universal and when there is still the KHMH and when there are other institutions."
