And while we have to wait and see if that will bring down more pressure on Belize, there's already a lot to go around. And it has to do with the Cuban Brigade currently in Belize. 45 members of that brigade are doctors and the question is whether they will be expelled. Today the Health Minister said basically - that's above his paygrade:
Kevin Bernard, Minister of Health and Wellness
"I cannot respond in detail to what the Prime Minister said. I know that the Prime Minister also, as the leader of this government, has been having diplomatic discussions through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs."
"As far as I know, there are still discussions taking place even today. Earlier this morning, my CEO and CEO Amala Mai, and I believe the CEO from Immigration had a three-way discussion in terms of the next steps."
"But I really can't respond until we have concrete information as to what will be the final decision in terms of addressing the issue and the concerns raised regarding the Cuban Brigade."
Reporter
"So what are we trying to do? So what are trying to do, we're going to work out allowing the Cuban doctors and medical staff in Belize, which the Prime Minister said I think accends maybe 100 or close to that, to have them stay in Belize?"
Kevin Bernard, Minister of Health and Wellness
"As I said, my only response to that, I cannot speak from that angle."
"I can tell you that at this point, the Cuban Brigade comprises 105 personnel. Mean out of that, 45 of them are specialized doctors in different areas of pediatric, neonatal doctors. You have OBGYN and other specialty psychiatry and all that."
"As I said, we know we have to plan. We have to plan whether the decision will be made to see a way how we could get them to stay here or whether we have to really do an exit plan. All of that is discussion that is happening at the diplomatic level."
"And so I don't want to comment on something that I don't have the full details. I know that the technical people were meeting today. We are hoping, but at the end of the day, Marisol, we have to have a plan in terms of forward thinking."
"And that's one of the reasons last year, when I took to Cabinet and Cabinet approval, which I will state in my budget presentation, we cabinet approved a 10-year healthcare capacity building training to ensure that we could provide, one, resources for training and specialization training for doctors in the necessary field of study for more nursing opportunities."
"And I can tell you that right now, I am in discussion with the Minister of Health in Guyana in trying to see how we could tap into their training program that they have for nursing. And so it is in that context that I can respond to that."
