With this injection of funding, NHI is rapidly expanding its coverage area. General Manager Dr Ramon Figueroa says that at the inception in 2001, they struggled to find the funds to support NHI, but now that they have been able to receive a steady stream of funding from the BGLL, they will soon expand into the Cayo district.
Dr Ramon Figueroa, General Manager, NHI
"Well we deal with the overall budget for the NHI so we get a combination of general revenue, government contribution from general revenue. I didn't know how much came from the Boledo So it's just, we present our budget and then the government decides how much is allocated to NHI, and they know how much comes from the boledo and how much comes from general revenue. So you're giving me information that I didn't know."
"You know we have been at this NHI trying to roll out from 2001. The biggest limiting factor had been the ability to finance the rollout of health care across the country for primary care. So when government decided to have the lottery as part of the contribution for the fine, that is what has allowed us then to be able to expand to Orange Walk and now doing the work in the Cayo district, which I have to say has got a little bit more complicated than we expected. It is the biggest district, the more dispersed population, and it's taking us a little bit more time than we expected. But the contributions from the government, has allowed us now to be able to move forward with the expansion of primary care for the whole country."
