Since Wednesday we've been reporting that the government continues to bankroll Universal Health Services - a private business - with public money. Records obtained by 7NEWS revealed that it was to the tune of $800,000 for prepayment of services. A Ministry of Finance document showed that gob paid $200,000 was paid in June, $150,000 in mid October, and another $150,000 at the end of October and $300,000 two days ago. Yesterday Financial Secretary Joe Waight confirmed the figures to 7NEWS and today Health Minister Jose Coye defended it. He told our Jacqueline Godwin that the money is being paid to the Universal for services rendered.
Hon. Jose Coye, Minister of Health
"We are not squandering it for sure. The extent to which we have made payments to Universal was for serves that were rendered. There were some high costs medical intervention that we were committed to and we paid those. But what we are looking to do is that we have a budget to give grants for medical assistance and this was mainly for people who were going abroad. What we have been finding over the many months now is that there are people who are going to Guatemala, going to Merida particularly for the hemo-dialysis treatment and we have been assisting them but we realize with the hemo-dialysis capacity in Belize, that instead of them going to over to Guatemala and going to Merida, what we were looking to do was set up a formal arrangement along with the Kidney Association to see the people who need that treatment and we have made some payments towards that. The extent to which there is any pre-payments, that I wouldn't know at this time; what amount it is. But I know we have some heavy commitment for services that they had rendered and that what we want to eventually formalize, the main thing of it will be the hemo-dialysis treatment in Belize.
The Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital plans remain as it has been. It will remain part of the public sector, it will remain, I would say, the highest level of public sector care in the country, within the public sector. So we have no intention. We hope indeed that the commitment that we gave will be actualized in privatizing as quickly as possible or should I say - remove the burden then of the debt that is hanging over the government, our commitment to keep it in the private sector."
At the last House meeting, Prime Minister Said Musa told the House that the sale of Universal should be finalized by the end of the year.
