And residents in the north will soon be benefiting from district wide NHI coverage. 7 million dollars has been allocated in the budget for their Orange Walk rollout. And the GM, Dr Figueroa explained that while that is only a projection, they have big plans to bring their services - particularly for the elderly - to the north.
Dr. Ramon Figueroa, General Manager, NHI
"The 7 million is a projected figure. I think we can manage with 7 million and that 7 million is an additional to cover the roll out in Orange Walk. And anybody who works with finances and budget knows that when you do projections built in assumptions. One assumption obviously from day one we are covering 100% of the population which probably won't happen, but we can't predict how fast we would register people, so you need to project on 100% coverage and you're talking based on SIB estimates, about 49,000 additional persons in Orange Walk. We think its higher, but that's the projected figures that we have. We think it's closer to 60,000 the population in that area. So those are assumptions that we built in. The other assumption is that we have built in the cost - remember we work on a contract basis and it's based on how we negotiate prices, but we've built in those costs estimates and projections, inflation."
"If we use the figures that we've been using in the south side, we haven't change the prices since 2001 and so in the projection for Orange Walk we've built in some inflation figures in there and the other think that we're trying to do in Orange Walk is we are trying to set up a clinic for the elderly, just like Mercy Clinic. And there will be an initial investment cost to help. We are working with HelpAge by the way, to help set up the facility. They have identified an area. They have a building, but we need to do investment in that building to make it adequate for the standards that we expect to provide services for the elderly."
"At the end of the day, 7 million is a projected figure. It doesn't mean that's what we are going to spend. Ask us probably at the end of next year, then we can tell you how much its costing us to actually deliver the services, but consider this as well: our budget right now on a monthly basis is 1.8 million. This will only raise it to 2.4, 2.3. Its half a million more and that's a seed, its a max. With all that I have already mentioned in terms of initial investment and inflationary figures that we projected, so I dont think its bad."
