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Doctors call on GOB to audit Universal
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Posted: 23/01/2007 - 12:45 PM
Author: Adele Ramos

Dr. Martha Habet, president of the Belize Medical and Dental Association (BMDA), told Amandala today that doctors have decided to resign their participation in the ministerial task force set up to give their recommendations on the amalgamation of the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital (KHMH) and the Universal Health Services (UHS).
 
The doctors have decided to step down, said Dr. Habet, because the task force is not making real progress—especially in light of complaints that UHS has been refusing to provide financial information to the task force so that GOB’s health economist, Michelle Vanzie, can do a proper assessment.
 
Dr. Habet said that the inability of task force members to access financial information is frustrating and does not make any sense—since UHS is financially indebted to GOB, and so the BMDA and the BMDU are also demanding that the Government undertake an immediate audit of UHS.
 
At the same time, the ministerial task force—chaired by the Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of Health, Henry Anderson—is behind in its work.
 
It was due to report to Health Minister, Hon. Joe Coye, since last Monday, but a new timeline has been set for this Wednesday, according to the Ministry. We also understand that the terms of reference for the task force have been revised, although we have had no official word on what those modifications are.
 
Dr. Habet told Amandala that when the task force met last week they were told that the terms of reference had been changed.
 
Last week the task force was told that they should not undertake an evaluation of costs of services for the two institutions – UHS and KHMH, Habet said. The assessment would have meant that the task force would have to up-to-date financial information from both institutions, which, according to Habet, was not forthcoming, even though UHS Chief Executive Officer, Troy Gabb, had agreed to provide the information.
 
“We said, for us to make an objective recommendation we need to have that information in hand. There is no way that someone could provide recommendations if we don’t have facts; we can’t work on assumptions,” Dr. Habet told us.
 
But the story from UHS was that it is not legally bound to provide the information, because GOB has not yet fully assumed the UHS debt.
 
The claim that UHS does not have to provide GOB with financial information stands, even though it was Government that guaranteed the UHS’s private debt with the Belize Bank, which now stands at over $30 million with interest included, and even though UHS owes Government a further $12 million through the Development Finance Corporation.
 
When we last spoke with Minister Coye about this issue, he had also indicated to us that the Government did not yet have UHS financials in hand, and had not been given a copy of the loan agreement with the Belize Bank, even though GOB had guaranteed the loan and is now being called to pay the UHS’s debt after UHS defaulted on its debt.
 
The organizations together represent roughly 120 doctors in both public and private institutions, including UHS. The statement issued to the media today, via an advertisement on page 12 of this issue of Amandala, came after members met Friday night, Habet informed us.
 
When we checked to get the Ministry of Health’s input today, we were informed that the Minister, Hon. Joe Coye, cannot yet comment on the matter, because no such correspondence has been received from either the union or the association regarding their withdrawal from the task force.


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