And some might say that the medicine shortage is yet another factor that led Belizean nurses to throw in the proverbial towel and head for greener pastures in the global north.
And that state of affairs seemed a real source of frustration for PM Briceno this morning when he explained that Belize's nurses are being poached despite the fact "investment" that Belizean tax dollars made in their professional formation.
Here are those comments:
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"What they are not saying is that in the last budget the Ministry of Health asked for about 110 I think posts to be filled. We approved it, of the over 90 of those posts have been filled, over 90 have been filled and they aren't saying that. The point that I want to make with that is that we do understand that there is a shortage of nurses and doctors worldwide. The United States is coming and Canada, and even the UK, they are coming and preying on our good doctors and especially our nurses. They come and offer them a better salary and many of them what do they do they pick up themselves and they go. They forget that we put them in Primary school, we put them in high school in 6 form, we send them to teachers, or to nursing school."
Host:
"But it's survival, right?"
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, Please let me finish. We invested in them our tax dollars, invested in them and they give them a better deal and they go. I understand that. I am only making the point that we invested in them and now another country is benefiting from the investment that poor Belize has done so we have nurses leaving so it's not because we don't want to hire nurses we are trying to get, we've gotten some from Cuba, we are trying to get from Nicaragua, we have to bring them in because we don't have locally."
