Nurses Association opposes any hospital amalgamation

By now it should be apparent that government’s plan to take majority ownership in Universal Health Services and integrate the facility into the nation’s health care system did not have much thought behind it. It is first and foremost a way for government to make the best of a bad financial situation, the result of an ill conceived loan guarantee that has Belmopan paying off a thirty million dollar private debt and winding up owning two-thirds of a money losing hospital that still owes twelve million to the D.F.C. But, like the United States and its war in Iraq, looking backward gets you only so far; the more important question is how to address the future. And today it was the nursing profession that added its voice to the debate.

Isabel Bennett, President, Nurses Association of Belize