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The meeting started at 2:00 this afternoon in the KHMH conference Room - and we met Labor Minister Hulse going in:..

Hon. Godwin Hulse, Minister of Labour
"This afternoon's sit down was to try to clarify the points, try to find out exactly where we are and where we go from here. This is a tremendously important facility. The public service needs to be protected, the staff and the management, especially the staff has done an excellent job. Nobody has no major complaints and so government's position is that we have a sympathetic view but we need to sit down and be clear as to what we are talking about and where we go."

The meeting finished two and a half hours later - and coming out of it, we got to speak to senior ministers and the Board Chairman:,,

Hon. Patrick Faber, PART OF MINISTERIAL TASK FORCE
"We have agreed not to disclose the details of the meeting to the media, but I will tell you that there will be a joint release that will say that the meeting was amicable and Indeed it was, and that we now set up a process that will last a little while longer where we sit down and we engage all the parties to see how we can come up with improvements for the staff but also for the KHMH."

Jules Vasquez
"What the public wants to know is, when the 'go slow' stop, when will the business as usual, return to normal at the KHMH?"

Hon. Patrick Faber, PART OF MINISTERIAL TASK FORCE
"It returns to normal immediately, so that is a part of what the release will say."

Chandra Cansino, CHAIRMAN - KHMH
"Well the staff representatives need to go back and finalize with their people what they committed - to resuming normal operations which will basically include the normal services that Karl Heusner gives on a daily basis. To resorting that effective immediately."

Hon. Patrick Faber
"I'll tell you that the discussions were calm, very amicable and I believe that at the end of this process we will see some real change and movement in work at the KHMH hospital. But also the staff, I believe will come out very happy."

Jules Vasquez
"Sir, in as simple as we can say it, will they get a raise? If everything works out as you will have mapped it, is government inclined to say 'man hold here'?"

Hon. Patrick Faber
"I don't think anybody can answer that question. Again it is a process that we will engage in. and we will wait to see what the outcome of that will be."

Jules Vasquez
"If I were a staff member and I were to say, 'Ms. Chairman will they help us or will they not help us?' what would you say?"

Chandra Cansino
"I would say that I am unable to say exactly what the conversation was at this time. We agreed as a team that the board will form a team, management will form a team and we will sit down and get the information that we have agreed to provide. And we are going forward from there."

Jules Vasquez
"However, it is established that they do richly deserve it."

Chandra Cansino
"They do richly deserve it and every single member of staff of Karl Heusner knows that I think and the entire board thinks that they deserve it. so it is not a question of whether or not they deserve it, it is a question of making the presentation formally as the PSU has done for them to build their case. And provide commitments to both sides as to how we will improve Karl Heusner on a whole."

Jules Vasquez
"So, who is the bargaining unit on behalf of the KHMH staff? Is it the PSU?"

Chandra Cansino
"No, it is not the PSU. They are forming their own workers union. But in the interim they have a representation. I think in the meeting today there was about 8 or 9 persons and that will be narrowed down to 4 based on the staff. The staff will choose who they are and just as well the board will have a representation probably of about 4 persons as well. And plus the management team, and we will sit down and gather the data that we need to gather and to build our case."

Jules Vasquez
"Is this a requirement of the government of Belize that the KHMH has to make itself more sustainable in order for government to do the other half? And does that mean charging public officers more than two dollars a day when they are hospitalized here?"

Chandra Cansino
"The short answer to that is yes, those are some of the issues that we will need to explore. Our present building system, the amounts, because we charge a very subsidized price for services that you can get in the public sector for probably 10x sometimes as much as a 100x the price that you pay for it at KHMH. And we are going to revisit that system, a review I should say, because remember we have the involvement of the cabinet. So if it is that we will agree that we will continue to charge public officers two dollars a day, then the cabinet will be aware of this and they will have to provide whatever services these public officers are getting. Because it is money that the hospital is spending that it is not collecting. And so..."

Jules Vasquez
"Is it an anachronism, something that is out of date and should have been changed when it became an authority?"

Chandra Cansino
"Yes in my opinion, definitely yes. Because that is a class of persons who are able to pay the subsidized prices that Karl Heusner charges because they are working class."

Jules Vasquez
"have they been given a kind of raw deal in terms of every public health worker has received this 18/19% from the government. But there people have not."

Hon. Pablo Marin, MINISTER OF HEALTH
"Well I think if the first part was the PSU fighting for the increment and that include KHMH, as you know they are an essential service. I think that was the part that went wrong from the beginning. But now government is working along with them and things will happen for KHMH."

Jules Vasquez
"Things will happen, meaning, they will get their raise?"

Hon. Pablo Marin
"We will work with them, we will work along with them."

That joint press release was issued an hour ago. It confirms, quote, "An amicable meeting was held…where an agreement was made on the way forward...normal services will resume for all patients…as of today Monday July 20, 2015."

Now, both sides will appoint negotiating teams - which will work with urgency to agree on terms for moving forward, possibly with an increment and certainly with a plan for enhanced revenue collection at the KHMH. And, as you just heard, this will include some consideration from government in exchange for the eight to ten thousand public officers who are eligible for hospitalization at the KHMH for zero to two dollars per day.

And while they quibble over coin, real people got seriously affected during the go- slow. We spoke to one pregnant woman who suffers from seizures. She is in her 39th week of pregnancy with a due date for next week. But she was scheduled to have a C-section tomorrow because persons with seizures cannot risk going through labour. But when she showed up at the Hospital this morning, she was turned back; she says they told her they were not taking new admissions. She has been assured that she will be admitted tomorrow.

Another man form Palmar village says he has been waiting a week them to perform surgery on his son Ervin Cantun. Adolfo Cantun says his son was chopped up but the surgery was pushed back due to the go slow:

Jules Vasquez
"Your son has been in here for?"

Adolfo Cantun, PALMAR VILLAGER
"Eight days from today."

Jules Vasquez
"And you are saying that he hasn't received a surgery he needs?"

Adolfo Cantun
"No he hasn't received any because of this 'slow down' that is happening here in Belize in the hospital."

Jules Vasquez
"Okay and you have been told that no surgery for him..."

Adolfo Cantun
"No, they told me that he will get a surgery but nothing has happened since Monday until today. So I am waiting for something to happen because nothing is going on."

Jules Vasquez
"And how is his condition right now?"

Adolfo Cantun
"He is trying to get a little bit more better every day but he needs a surgery for his face and arm."

Jules Vasquez
"And are you concerned that his condition might get worse and he still doesn't get the surgery?"

Adolfo Cantun
"I hope it doesn't happen like that, but I think it might go on... "

Jules Vasquez
"You must be losing your patience a little though Mr. Cantun."

Adolfo Cantun
"I have to be losing my patience because it's been here 8 days from today."

Since the go slow is now over, tomorrow we will check up on Cantun.