Long term plan for health reform
While the prognosis for Belizean basketballers remains guarded, government claims that the state of the nation’s health is ready to improve. This is thanks to plans for reform which were unveiled this morning at the Radisson. Patrick Jones reports.
The five hundred-page draft report on health care reform is the culmination of four years of research and analysis of what needs to be done to improve the nation’s health system. Director of Health Services, Dr. Michael Pitts says the report strongly advocates partnership between the public and private sector, stressing the need to strike a good balance between preventative and curative medicine.
Dr. Michael Pitts, Director of Health Services
“We are trying to address some very fundamental issues in health care. The matter of quality, the matter of access, the matter of affordability and indeed the need to do things in a way that it can be sustained. What we have proposed within these reform measures should take us through the next ten years or so. And so it is very far reaching.”
The recommendations put forward in the document look good on paper, but as Minister of Works Melvin Hulse, who deputized for the P.M., rightly said in his presentation, how far the implementation goes will depend on the will of health care providers.
Melvin Hulse Jr., Minister of Works
“We have a book and before you do anything you have to have a foundation and this is the foundation. And I’ve taken it deadly serious, Wayne, in spite of it all. Yes, we have a clear-cut direction and I’m glad the government and the funding agency saw and recognized that this had to be done first.
You can’t di run out there and just di fix up hospital and di buy medicine and di send people to train unless you know how you basically, fundamentally is going to completely utilize it to its maximum. Our thing has always been, and everybody refers to it every now and again, until we’ve got a change of attitude by those who will implement this, this not worth the paper it’s written on.”
The health policy reform project conducted by the Cambridge Consulting Corporation, focussed on five priority areas: re-definition and re-organizing the role of the Ministry of Health, decentralization of decision making, the development of a plan for the improvement of management at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, the development of a financial management system and the creation of a management information system.
Dr. Michael Pitts
“It is saying to us that we need to improve the regulation and control so far it affects the quality and the accountability in the system. It is looking at Karl Heusner Memorial, not so much as the Achilles heal, but indeed, as the flagship of the health system. We are saying this, that this is the major referral center in the country, the major hospital that will be supported clearly with a network of community hospitals, poly-clinics throughout and right down to the level of the village where we should be able to provide health posts, community health workers, as the case might be.”
Richard Alvarez of the Cambridge Consulting Corporation says there were many challenges during the course of the project.
Richard Alvarez, C.C.C. Representative
“One of them of course is that we’re dealing with a young population scattered over a wide land mass. We dealt with socio-economic development of the country and in this context, an aging population, not unlike many other parts of the world, financing challenges of course, which much has been said, improvement in the education standard and the high expectation created by citizens who live abroad and realize that the health care system needs to be improved here.”
Anthony Nicascio, Head of the Planning Unit
“While the health policy reform project is scheduled to complete its project life at the end of this month, August, the implementation of the health reform program adopted by the Ministry of Health and Sports is just beginning. The government of Belize and the Ministry of Health and Sports intend to steadily continue with the health sector strategies and improvement included in this program.”
According to Health Planner Valerie Jenkins, the injection of fresh ideas into delivery of health care will have a tremendous impact on the nation’s health system.
Valerie Jenkins, Health Service Planner
“The private and public roles of health care delivery are slowly being defined. A few examples are private warehousing of drugs and medical supplies, where the Ministry of Health will not need to incur the cost of housing these products. Provision of necktology in the private sector, not in the public sector with support from the government, like concessions and so forth, support for N.G.O.s and regulatory duties by the Ministry of Health in delivery of health care they so deliver. The Ministry of Health, through the planning unit, will assist private sector to identify and fill gaps in the health system.”
Dr. Pitts says the health policy reform project extends to the year 2010 but there are provisions for continuous updating as the need becomes necessary. The cost of the project is estimated at three point six million Belize dollars provided by the Inter-American Development Bank with matching funds from the government of Belize. Patrick Jones for News Five.
The I.D.B. representative at this morning’s meeting told the group that his organization remains committed to assist Belize with training for health workers and other investments in the health care system.
