But while the Ministry of Health and Wellness has been slow in choosing a DHS, critics say they were much more cavalier about candidates for gene sequencing training.
And tonight the medical technologists of Belize are still angry about Kaylyn Habet. She's the candidate chosen to travel to the U.S. to receive the vital training in gene sequencing from Baylor college. But, the "Association of Clinical Laboratory Science of Belize" say that not only is she a contract worker, she's not even a certified technician.
We asked the Minister of Health about the concerns of the disgruntled med techs earlier today.
Cherisse Halsall:
"Kayla Habet was posted to Baylor College to go and do a course on Gene sequencing but all the other med techs are very upset, they say that Ms. Habet has a bachelors in neuroscience but that she's not qualified for this training and in fact her receiving this training could lead to erroneous results, something we don't need in this pandemic."
Hon. Michel Chebat, Minister of Health and Wellness
"You know, sometimes you have to stop and wonder where the messaging is coming from, she has been working at Central medical lab as a lab technician and so I don't know how that kind of argument can be made the selection was made by the director of the lab and so we trust their direction, we trust their selection, I can tell you that the training they are going to get is essential for us. This is the training that we need to be able to identify, in Belize, the variants we have. So, I welcome the opportunity to have two of our technicians trained in the United States."
Kaylyn Habet has a bachelor's degree in neuroscience.
