This afternoon Minister of Health Pablo Marin presented his first report card. He did it in the form of a 15 minute speech which was short on actual accomplishments but abundant with vision and direction, such as plans to roll out NHI nationwide, upgrade hospitals across the country, and build a cancer treatment center in Dangriga. And while there are many things the Ministry is doing, CEO Peter Allen says one thing the Ministry isn’t doing – is paying the Belize Healthcare Partners, formerly the Universal Hospital, the $300,000 monthly subsidy agreed to by the previous administration.
Dr. Peter Allen, CEO – Ministry of Health
“First of all no, we are not paying the subsidy. The last payment was on the 28th of January which was a $300,000 payment to what has just become BHP by the previous administration. What this new administration moved quickly to do was to say let’s pay by the services we purchase. So we are purchasing dialysis services from the BHP and the Ministry purchases those services and we pay as we need those services.”
And because government is no longer subsidizing the Belize Healthcare Partners Hospital, some kidney patients who depend on haemodialysis to survive have been affected. But both CEO Peter Allen and Minister Pablo Marin say government is still paying for 25 patients to receive treatment at the Health Care Partners but not for much longer.
Hon. Pablo Marin,
“The MOH continues to purchase dialysis service for some 25 patients suffering from kidney disease at a cost of some $150,000 per month. The Ministry recognizes however that we must focus our efforts on the promotion of wellness within our communities. Right now we are making contact with the Ambassador and by Friday I should be going to Chetumal and talk to one of the hospitals that are doing the dialysis so by next week I should a have a response on that.
It is just something that was started this week because of all the patients coming in. We have 25 patients as I said before and everyday we are hearing of more cases, we have 15 more cases and they are life and death situations so we have to look into it.”
Government spends $150,000 a month to treat those 25 patients.
