DHS Responds to Alleged Case of Victimization at Southern Regional Hospital
In a separate, but health related matter, the Belize Dental and Medical Association also called on the Ministry of Health to look into a case of what they deem victimization of a doctor employed at the Southern Regional Hospital. The B.M.D.A. says that they have received a report that a medical doctor was being transferred from Dangriga to Hopkins due to misconduct. That doctor, according to the association, has been very vocal about, “the deplorable conditions and the lack of resources that the healthcare providers were working with in that region.” The B.M.D.A. condemns this clear act of victimization. Director of Health Services, Doctor Marvin Manzanero also responded to this report.
Marvin Manzanero
Dr. Marvin Manzanero, Director of Health Services
“The doctor was not actually transferred. I think we have to make this very clear. The doctor is being posted in Hopkins and that can happen because it serves kind of like the same catchment area. The basic example we can use is San Ignacio Community Hospital that has doctors who are for the hospital or hired at the hospital but these doctors can be sent to rotate at the Benque-Mopan Polyclinic which is ten miles away. San Antonio Village now has a facility and Santa Elena Town. So, because these three facilities don’t have a doctor assigned to them can be sent to give coverage in that area. It is the same thing that can happen for the doctor that is in Dangriga. Anybody can be posted in Hopkins; it is ten miles away. I am aware of what the BMDA wrote in the release but that is not entirely the way it happened. That decision was to move the doctor to Hopkins is part of the posting that can routinely be done. We were aware at headquarters so it is not a decision that Doctor Gutierrez did on a personal note to send the doctor to Hopkins. That can be for a given amount of time and once his time is up someone else can be sent. That is a part of the routine and everybody who works in the public service knows that that can happen.”
