B.M.D.U. rejects modified proposals of K.H.M.H. Board
The doctors have their own side of the story. B.M.D.U. President, Doctor John Sosa, says there are many wrinkles with the M.O.U. and they will not put their signatures to it.
Dr. John Sosa, President, B.M.D.U.
“We had given them an M.O.U. that in large part was drafted by the C.E.O., Ministry of Health at a much prior meeting. So they got that M.O.U. and they came back with a modified M.O.U. that we looked at and decided was not to our satisfaction because of several reasons. You could say we start at the beginning and we did not at anytime want any sort of punitive action or victimisation to be carried out against Dr. Khalid Ghazy and they did not have that in the M.O.U. That’s point one. They did agree to an independent audit, a forensic independent audit. They had a point where we said that regarding the Chairman of the Board and regarding the Chief Executive Officer and the Administrator, that they be suspended until a thorough investigation was carried out and finished and they really did not put that in and said that only the persons directly implicated should be held accountable. We look at that as throwing the ball into someone else’s court or sort of fining a scapegoat and they get off scott free.”
Marion Ali
“We’re talking about public officers?”
Dr. John Sosa
“I’m talking about really the Purchase Officer that they hired because she is the one who does the buying. She—I don’t know if she is a public officer or not, I know that she was hired by someone in administration.”
Marion Ali
“This is point what?”
Dr. John Sosa
“Point six. Then at point seven they say that he Board will meet our recommendations to the minister and the B.M.D.U. representative on the board. While we think that really the prime minister had agreed to that to that recommendation and that it would be done as soon as possible and not the board make any recommendations of the sort. And then again, it was quite interesting to us that we put that no punitive measures be taken against any member of the B.M.D.U. and they added on any member of the board of K.H.M.H. Authority and I do not agree to that because they are the ones under investigation. So how can we agree that no punitive measures be taken against any of their members when they are not the law or the court. We can’t sign on to nothing with that point because even if things happen at that point the court decides that, not the B.M.D.U. And then the other point is that we wanted them to publicly apologize for calling us hustlers and they omitted that point totally. Of course, we had some issues with parts of other points that they have here but because at a meeting last night the doctors had decided that this is what we wanted, we would not—we could probably add some stuff but not remove anything from this original M.O.U. We had grounds for discussion because they came with something that we did not agree with. We believe the Board in a sense has gone in a bunker mode but they are saying that it’s everyone against us and were right in a sense. I would think looking in from the outside, everyone else is for some reason trying to persecute us—not prosecute, persecute—and that is the mentality I see with them; that they have decided we will defend ourselves at all costs, to the end against whatever and I believe the Belizean public at large will decide how this issue finishes.”
Dr. Sosa says the Union will meet again on Friday morning to decide again what they will do.
