Twice now, Belize City resident, Steven Buckley has come to 7News to complain that the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital has been on his back about medical bills which haven't been paid.
He claims that the former Commissioner of Police had pledged to him that the Police Department would take care of the bill due to the circumstances of his injury.
Viewers may remember that he was shot by an on-duty police officer, who was later criminally charged for the wrongful shooting.
Today, we spoke to the Chairlady of the KHMH Board, who told us how the hospital is now handling that situation:
Chandra Nisbet-Cansino - Chairlady, KHMH Board
"We are aware of the situation - we have a credit system that is collecting on our behalf, one of our problems at KHMH is that less than 50% of the hospital bills are paid and as hard as it is to say that we need money to run the hospital - it is part of the reason we are in the situation that we are in today. I believe that the credit masters system, issued a letter to Stephen Buckley as a person on the list of persons that owe and since then, I believe that the Karl Heusner has asked that they hold back on that request until after his situation goes to court - because it's a pending court issue and we understand that. I think there was also an allegation made that Karl Heusner is withholding medical information because he has not paid his bill - that is no so, that is not true. The court has a process that it goes through to request information, I believe that has been done and the information has been given. If there is anything else that they need I am sure that the Karl Heusner will be more than willing to provide the necessary information."
Reporter
"How much money are we looking at at the KHMH of people who don't pay their bills?"
Chandra Nisbet Cansino
"It's probably over the past 6 years - a little over $10 million dollars."
Reporter
"How much of a hindrance is that for the operations of the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital?"
Chandra Nisbet Cansino
"It's a significant hindrance because while the service is public, it's not free - we have to purchase everything that we have, we have to pay our staff members. We do get significant intervention from the government through the Ministry of Health but we are an authority and we are obliged to collect funds to meet the rest of our expenses and it is a challenge for us."
