The Briceno Administration established diplomatic relations with the Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia in September of 2022, and less than a year later, the Saudi Fund has approved a 90 million Belize dollar loan to build a tertiary care hospital in Belmopan.
The plan seems like a game changer for Belize - and it was a big reveal at today's house meeting. But, health systems are not turn key operations like new cars - there are a whole lot of details to devil.
And that's why just when the Prime Minister was about to take a victory lap, the Leader of the Opposition butted in to say "what about the KHMH"" Here's the robust debate on that loan motion:
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"My way of explanation and Belize's national referral hospital, the Karl Huesner Memorial Hospital was built over 30 years ago. In addition to serving as a national referral hospital, the KHMH also serves as a regional hospital. While we continue to applaud the excellent work being carried out by the fine doctors, nurses, administrators and other healthcare professionals at KHMH. I don't think anyone needs to be convinced that the KHMH no longer at its best to meet increasing demands at both national and regional level. Similarly, the Belmopan hospital was contracted over fifty years ago and despite renovations and additions over the years it too is no longer in any shape to meet the growing demands of the central region. I am most pleased to report to the nation that we have been able to secure roughly ninety million dollars for the construction of a new one hundred and fifty bed modern national referral tertiary care hospital in Belize."
"And is also going to be attached to the University of Belize so that we can have university teaching our nurses and doctors in the future."
"Given the vulnerability of the KHMH to hurricanes and floods, the strategic placement of this hospital in Belmopan represents an important part of our climate resiliency building strategy in the provision of healthcare. This new hospital will also ultimately serve as university hospital for the University of Belize as ir embarks for the development and formation of a school of medicine with far reaching connection to Central American medical schools."
Shyne Barrow, Leader of the Opposition
"We live in a country where our public health facilities, KHMH, Western region, Southern Region, Northern Region, does not even have the minimum essential equipment, items needed to treat patients and we as a government is going to borrow ninety million dollars to build a hundred and ten bed facility, to do what? We need to invest to in public healthcare facilities that we currently have madam speaker. What we have here with this Briceno administration is all pappy show, all bells and whistles, cut ribbon, take pictures with nothing happening. They talk about NHI and people having coverage, coverage to what? You and I, I admit, I don't go to a public hospital. Neither do you, neither do many of you millionaires here getting the treatment at public hospitals. That's why you don't know that people can't get treated. Our Belizean people cannot get treated in our public health facilities. So when you come and you say that you want us to support 90 million dollars, I would a hundred million dollars, 200 million dollar loan to better the facilities that we have now."
"This government is like a rock head government and it is not just empty criticisms that I am making, every house meeting it is loan after loan and then for what? No Cat Scan, no basic equipment to save lives. Where is the money going to come from for the personnel? Again, you cannot even run KHMH. Your government can't even run the public health facilities that we have."
"So what are we going to do now, just abandoned KHMH, we're going to abandoned the population in Belize City, which has the majority of our impoverished people? So now you have to come from Belize City to Belmopan? when that 90 million dollars could go into making sure that KHMH is functional, the western regional hospital is functional. Have you asked the unions about borrowing 90 million to build this facility? Did you ask the Nursing Association? Did you ask the medical association? What dialogue have you had with those that know what we need in our public healthcare crisis that we are going through?"
"It's not as if everything is good, could be better - yes I need, so it can get through your thick skull and you could understand, because you are not understanding. It's clear that you are not understanding."
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"And your government spent 600 million dollars of our oil money, spent 500 million dollars of our Petrocaribe money and did not see it fit to build a tertiary hospital in the nation's capital and then you come here to say something about it? You should be ashamed of yourself."
"We are setting up a tertiary level hospital, not with 110 beds, but with 150 beds. We're not talking about a building, we're talking about a hospital, a tertiary level hospital. That means something my friend, it means that it's going to be properly equip. We are not building a building, we're building a tertiary level hospital that we will attached to the University of Belize to address the very same issue that you just talk about, that we don't have enough doctors, we don't have enough medical technicians, we don't have enough nurses. That is an issue that's affecting worldwide."
"We are still talking to the people at Karl Heusner [Hospital], because it's limited in space. Hospitals are not recommended really to go too high, because of access to people, so the idea, the long-term vision is to probably build another hospital on the southside of Belize City like around the Lake Independence Boulevard, in that area. So that then we have 2 good hospitals serving the good people of Belize City, the same poor people we are talking about and also the rest of the country - Orange Walk District and Belize District."
The loan is on concessionary terms, for 20 years with a 5 year grace period with a a fixed interest rate of Two percent per annum.
