7 News Belize

Are KHMH Staffers Going to Get 14%?
posted (September 25, 2015)
In the Prime Minister's Independence Day speech, he announced that the Government of Belize was going to forgive the 9 million dollar debt that the public owes the KHMH. That was the total in unpaid medical bills left uncollected.

With the government assuming those impaired debts, the Board of KHMH would be able to pay for the raise that the employees of the hospital had been asking, somewhere in line with the 18% that the teachers and public officers were given. The Guardian Newspaper recently reported that this final figure that this raise will amount to is 14%. When we had an opportunity to speak with Labour Minister Godwin Hulse at an event today, we asked him if that figure is accurate:

Hon. Godwin Hulse, Minister of Labour
"The KHMH employees are not public officers, so they were not subject to that grand bonanza that the public officers were subjected to of 6 and 8 percent. However the government has to put a serious subsidy into the KHMH because it's not a self-sustaining institution and of course health is a priority. So what we have done is we have asked the board to redo their budget and as he rightly said, it's not just a hand out. It's to redo their budget to look at areas that they can improve in efficiency, collection, reduce waste. And then government it prepared to supplement the budget, one of the ways we are supplementing is through this 9 million dollars which they were unable to collect. And God forbid that someone gets into an accident or needs an emergency, and goes to the hospital, it's not a hospital where u can say "go to the counter and pay the check first". You have to attend to the person and when the person says "well I can't pay", then what do you do? You sue them and already that becomes an issue. This is where this whole large uncollectible came about and so with that receivable which is on the books that the KHMH be written off so to speak and government saying "here is the money", they also have to put in a structure of how we can collect. This is because it is not everybody that is incapable of paying, there is some people that can pay and the hospital has to peruse those persons and put in a system to collect. Government is already looking at a facility where already indigent people and people who are really and truly cannot pay and that is where that came about."

Daniel Ortiz
"Sir but as to the number of the 14 percent, is that accurate?"

Hon. Godwin Hulse, Minister of Labour
"I think it is, it's a figure that I'll have to be clear wit the board because remember that it's the board and the management that is responsible for that increase so to speak. The way it's working technically is that government is going to give the additional subvention to the hospital to cover everything including the proposing increase to their staff."

As we've told you this hospital debt forgiveness is a win for those in the public who owed the hospital and a win for more than 600 employees who work at the hospital. BUT, is it just a generous government giveaway with no conditions? Not exactly. HULSE TOLD US THAT there are conditions that the hospital must meet:

Hon. Godwin Hulse, Minister of Labour
"About a month ago when we first sat down, this was discussed and the KHMH staff did not have a sort of official representation. So first thing that management and the government minister said well 'first of all get a sort of official representative body that can speak for and on behalf of the 500+ people that are there'. That happened and then they sat down with management and worked out a brief, several pages of some of the important issues. And there is an agreement that was to be signed last Friday, I cannot comment as to whether it was signed. It was a tripartite between the staff, management and government which will ensure moving forward in this direction. I can tell you that there is some issues that have come to the table. One, I mentioned already is the issue of indigent people that cannot afford to pay, government has to create some facility to that. The issues of doctors who work in private practice as well as at the hospital and how that will be managed. The issue of as what we've said before, this massive outstanding debt that was there. the issue of public officers that only pay 2 dollars for service has to be addressed, that is just unacceptable in way and also the issue of secondary care facilities around the country that do send their patients to this facility the KHMH which was designed to be secondary for Belize and tertiary for the country. So all of that KHMH staff and management has said, creates a financial problem for them. for example if Orange Walk, Belmopan, San Ignacio, Dangriga, the southern regional hospital send cases up here that they really should be managing then it's a bleed on their resources here and they need to have compensation for that. So all that sort of thing have been discussed and hopefully should work out including the possibility of a seat on the board for one of the association of employees' representatives which would then give a better working relationship."

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