Increasing Fuel Prices Restrict Scope of Work of B.E.R.T. and other N.G.O.s
The price of regular gasoline went up by another significant margin at midnight at the pumps, part of the global inflation that surrounds the war in Ukraine. Regular gasoline shot up by sixty-six cents per gallon, taking the price up to thirteen dollars and fifty cents. The Government announced that it also intervened to cut back on its taxes by twenty-nine cents off every gallon so as to not have consumers suffer the full brunt of what the actual cost would have been. The recent hikes have had a rippling effect on the cost of most goods and services. But while merchants and business people can pass the costs on to their customers, there are some services for which the costs simply cannot be passed on, such as the people whose job it is to transport the sick, or those whose job is to conduct patrols. News Five’s Marion Ali takes a look at how the increases have affected two of those types of services.
Andre Carillo
Andre Carillo, Executive Director, B.E.R.T. Ambulance
“We’re having difficulties meeting many of our expenses, which is taking a toll on even our ability to keep up with supplying our ambulances and medical supplies. So the cost of fuel has impacted us.”
Marion Ali, Reporting
The continuous escalation of fuel prices has hit some services hard, and the ambulatory responsibilities that the Belize Emergency Response Team has been meeting for the residents of Belize City have been made all the more difficult by yet another price hike overnight. At this point, Executive Director of BERT, Andre Carillo says that in order to keep their doors open and their services accessible, they are looking for some type of reprieve, either from the government or from the international community of donors.
Andre Carillo
“The silver lining for most N.G.O.s and profits that rely on government subventions is that the government has mentioned July first as the timeframe for the restoration of budget for public officers. And we hope that that’s the timeline that the government will also provide restoration for everyone. We took a reduction in subventions way before the teachers and public officers got a pay cut. They got a pay cut of ten percent in June, 2021. We were cut in September, 2020. So have you written to the government to ask?”
Andre Carillo
“Yes, we do have a pending meeting with the new Minister of Health to basically discuss this; along with other partnerships that we are going to embark on with them to basically discuss this along with other partners that we’re going to embark on with them and we’ll be announcing that to the public soon. So what we’re doing to help offset the costs for now is apply for grants. And as you know, grants are normally one-time thing so it’s very difficult to find grants, but we’re seeking grants to basically help us.”
Where the assistance cannot cover the full fuel bill for BERT, Carillo says they ask for a nominal fee. But even when patients cannot afford to pay, the service is not denied to them. Before BERT reaches a point where their budget can no longer allow to effectively answer calls for help, Carillo said they would be forced to hand over the responsibility of the service to the government, as they had done in the past.
Andre Carillo
“In reflecting on where we were in 2016, not being able to carry on with the services anymore and then handing that over to the government is a reality we’re also faced with today. And that’s why we’re fighting arduously to be able to apply for grants.”
One of the services that would have already collapsed because of fuel prices is BERT’s air ambulance, but the government rescued that problem in time.
Andre Carillo
“Aviation fuel costs around twenty dollars per gallon. So we burn an estimated twenty gallons per hour. For instance, a PG flight is around an hour to get to PG for a patient. So it’s around two hours to fly to Punta Gorda to rescue a patient to bring them to K.H.M.H. The aviation program was not cut because the implications would have meant that patients from as far as P.G. would not have been able to be rescued. So in 2020 BERT’s subvention was cut across the board by twenty-seven percent. And we had to renegotiate with the government, advising them at the time – and this was the past administration – advising them that that amount was unsustainable, that we would not have been able to carry on, which would have brought the aviation program to a complete halt. The government would then have to resort to charter private flights, which can easily cost the Government of Belize five thousand Belize (dollars) to fly one patient from San Pedro to Belize (City).”
Another area of service whose fuel budgets have been impacted is the N.G.O. community whose scope of work encompasses patrolling both land and sea to deter illegal activities. Carillo, also wears the hat of Chair of the Belize Network of N.G.O.s Steering Committee.
Andre Carillo
“The N.G.O.s collectively in the marine protected areas, inclusive of BERT that provides humanitarian emergency medical services, we consume a total of around forty-five thousand gallons of fuel annually. Much like BERT, the marine protected areas N.G.O.s have also not been able to meet their budget. They’re past their budget. So it’s becoming increasingly difficult to continue to patrol the eight hundred and fifty thousand acres that they’re basically in charge of. And when that happens, basically illegal fishing increases. Aside from that, there are other illegal/illicit activities that happen on the high seas, so there’s a real risk for Belize when the patrols need to reduce. And due to the constraints it’s going to affect patrols.”
The N.G.O. community has recommended that the government finds targeted ways to assist the ones that are marginalized, perhaps through grants to make up for the fuel increases. Government’s response should be made known in the coming weeks.
Marion Ali for News Five.
