Opposition Leader not ready to buy into new hospital and teaching facility in Belmopan: “People go into the public hospitals to die”

By Aaron Humes: According to Leader of the Opposition Moses “Shyne” Barrow, there is much to settle with regard to the “crisis” in the public health system before we can talk about adding new facilities such as that proposed to be paid for in the House of Representatives on Friday with a $90 million loan from the Saudi Fund.

Consigning the idea of the hospital being attached to the University of Belize as having the same credibility as building 10,000 houses nationwide and increasing pay for the teachers and public officers – in his view, none – Barrow painted a dire picture of the Belizean health system as it stands from experts he has spoken to: “They are saying we have a public health facility crisis. Healthcare is a human right; every Belizean deserves adequate health care. We can’t provide that right now; we don’t have the machines, the CAT scan, MRI – people go into the public health hospitals to die…so what comfort should the Belizean people take in borrowing $90 million not to fix our ailing public health care system, but to build another building, in essence?”

Barrow added that no breakdown of the spending was provided, so we don’t know how much will be spent on construction, equipment, or staffing. The loan, he argued, should have been broken down among the current public hospitals and the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital (KHMH), which is privately run but Government-supported.

The UDP leader also cited “deflection” on the matter of the state of the hospitals under the previous administration while conceding that the UDP “did not do a perfect job,” but still maintained that the country cannot “move forward and look backward; you’re sure to crash.”

It was noted during the debate on the motion that the past administration for unknown reasons fumbled an opportunity to use free grant funds of $30 million to improve the state of affairs at the Western Regional Hospital in Belmopan.

And Prime Minister John Briceño indicated that KHMH and by extension, Belize City, would not be abandoned: “We are still talking to the people at Karl Heusner [Memorial 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 five-year grace period with a fixed interest rate of two percent per annum.

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