And the Minister of Health and Wellness Kevin Bernard is in dialogue with the Nurses. Today, along with his CEO and Director of Health and Wellness he met with leaders of the Nurses Association of Belize.
Now, they were thought to be a part of the Coalition of Medical Professionals but - as you just heard - when Bernard tried to meet with that Coalition on Monday - they postponed the meeting.
So he met with the nurses association today where he said the main discussion was about shortages of medicines and supplies. He told the press more in a Zoom press conference:
Hon. Kevin Bernard, Minister of Health
"What they did was that they brought the concerns from the various regions including KHMH. We were able to clarify in many cases, the many instances some of the list that they brought in terms of what they deemed was medications that were short. During the discussion we had set out some clear oaths; one of them being that, 1) we will have a follow meeting with the Nurses Association in January. 2) we want to ensure that with the new timeline that we have put for ourselves internally at the ministry that we want to ensure that we have received all our supplies in country."
"We agreed that we will share with the Nurses Association that information as well and that by March of next year we should see major improvements when it comes to these issues. We felt it was a fruitful discussion we had today. I think we all left that room today with the same focus, with the same vision and that the fact that we will continue to dialogue. As I said to the members that were there for the Nurses Association is that we have an open door policy. I have an open door policy and I am prepared to engage with any organization."
