Singh Gives Glimpse into G.O.B. Pandemic Choices
Michael Singh
Belize’s handling of the pandemic 2020 is also included in the book. Former Director of Technology in the Prime Minister’s Office, Michael Singh, who was a member of the former administration’s COVID-19 task force, says his piece gives the background to decisions the Government of Belize had to make.
Michael Singh, Former Director of Technology, Prime Minister’s Office
“I did try to, as best as I could, describe the challenges and underlying factors that caused the government to make decisions that it made. I found that often when a new policy came forth, whether it is a new S.I., remember we had S.I. coming out every week. Sometimes they would have to change them the day after. Often people would look at that and say wow, the government looks really confused. But, in reality that is a reaction to the realities of what we have to deal with. And, often the public does not know what those realities are. Things like scarcity of equipment, scarcity of supplies, and scarcity of the ability to be able to have security forces to be able to police some of the policies we put in place. There are so many issues that impacted the decisions we made every day. It is very difficult for anyone that is not in the boiler room at the time to be able to understand what those realities were. I think early on when the government first was faced with this, there was a belief that this was a medical crisis. And, the initial medical task force was actually a medical taskforce. There were very few people involved. I remember attending the first task force meeting and going back to the Prime Minister. I said P.M this cannot be medical task, it has to be a broad task force. There are so many issues that are going to be impacted when this thing really hits us and we have to be ready for those things.”
“COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons from the Frontline” also includes contributions from Doctor Natalia Beer and other Belizean doctors. The book is available on Amazon in all formats.
