New Hospital Fees Regulations Does Not Apply to K.H.M.H.

Kevin Bernard

As Minister Bernard noted, the new public hospital regulations will not apply to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital.  He explained the reason for this, while noting that Belize City residents can access several other public health facilities in Belize City free of charge.

Kevin Bernard, Minister of Health and Wellness

“That is the reasons why we have Matron Roberts and the other public clinics that we have within the city. KHMH is a tertiary facility. We need to ensure we differentiate that. KHMH provides tertiary care and some level of secondary care for the people of the city. But, its main purpose is to provide tertiary and higher level cares for the people who need to be referred to KHMH. The reason is that we are now making sure the people in the city can access the Matron Roberts, the Cleopatra White to get the services and with the NHI coming to Belize City north side that is going to expand more and reduce some of the strains at KHMH as well. A lot of people go to KHMH and sometimes they don’t need to be at KHMH. They should be at the Matron Roberts and Cleopatra White and the other polyclinic. So we are trying to make sure we have accessible services available to our Belizean society. So while yes KHMH is a statutory body with their own affairs, their own operations, government subsidizes KHMH through subventions and providing medications and so forth, but we cannot just simply jump and tell KHMH you should do the same. They have to look at the entire functionality of KHMH.”