When the issue was raised with the Prime Minister this morning, he said his wife, the Special Envoy for Women and Children, had already beaten the media to the punch. Briceno explained today that while the MOHW technicians had good intentions, they should sit down and discuss how these services could better benefit the public.
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"From what we have been told in cabinet well before these things happened these things were already the law, but it was not being implemented. So they believed that it was time to be able to implement some of these laws that have been in place. It is not a law that we are changing; it has been there, it's been in the books. There have been a lot of abuse when it comes to some of these medicines that should be given by prescription."
"On the issue of birth control of course you know I get it last night, when Rossana saw it and she was like what's wrong with all? When it comes to contraceptives because it is important to make this easy for women to avoid unwanted pregnancies and I agreed with her and I know that the technicians at the Ministry of Health will say, "Well, it is known that some of these birth control pills can cause, cancer or blood clots or whatever." She said, "Okay, what data do you have to support that in Belize?" So I agreed and sometimes for want of the perfect you know we mess up the greater good for the people and this is such a case. So we need to sit down with the Ministry of Health to talk about it and see how best we can navigate around."
Another 600 word press release from the Ministry this afternoon didn't help matters much. It says quote, "contraceptives are also prescription medicines due to the need to assess the risks and benefits, and utilize the consultation for opportunistic screening, prior to initiation of one of the various forms of contraceptives available." End quote.
