And while a night in the COVID ward may be costly, testing for the virus is free - from the government at least. And anyone who has been exposed or has symptoms can go to a clinic, whereas those who have to get regular testing for their jobs - and live in any of our two cities - can go to the free testing sites at the Civic Centers in Belize City and Belmopan.
But there was a bit of confusion some months ago when those whose co-workers had contracted COVID were not being tested by the ministry. We asked the PM to clear this up, and while he emphasized that the testing was free, he also noted that there was no price regulation for the private sector testing.
Hon John Briceno, Prime Minister
"What has happened is that the BPO's were passing regulations, they wanted us to include them as part of frontline workers so that they could get their employees vaccinated and then after that they were saying if you're not vaccinated by certain times then you have to go and take your test. What is happening now is that they are overwhelming the system, all of them were lining up, they wanted to get their test in a hurry and some of them were becoming rude, they were cursing the nurses and they were even stoning a bottle at them and so the ministry decided said we can't keep up so you all, go somewhere else to get test, we are going to deal with the people who have been exposed and the people who are sick so I think that is where it created an uncertainty but what we have done, because of that need we have been opening more centers, we're been decentralizing the testing and probably I expect that in the distant future we will probably be able to go to a pharmacy and get test because you don't need to be a doctor or nurse to do a test."
"The testing is set by the private sector. Let's not mix up oranges and apples here. First of all the government does not charge for a test, and if you have been exposed you can go tot the hospital and t4esting sites and getting it free of cost now there's the privates sector and most of them are looking at the tourist that come into Belize and they are the ones that charge and some charge $100 and I think now they're charging $75 but we do not set a price."
Reporter:
"Have you been able to crunch the numbers of how lucrative of a business this may be for some of these private sector institution?"
Hon John Briceno, Prime Minister
"Good for them, I mean in my business I try to maximize my profit, what we have to ensure is that they don't take advantage of poor people and that's what we're doing that's why we make testing free to Belizeans."
