The future of dialysis treatment for patients still unknown

Since the beginning of this week the patients who receive dialysis treatment at the Belize Health Care Partners Limited under the Ministry of Health’s Dialysis Programme have raised concerns over the quality of service they have been getting. We heard dialysis patient, Jose Cruz last night as he listed the issues he and other kidney patients had a problem with. These included the fact that the hospital does not provide a doctor on duty when the patients are receiving treatment; that the nurses that now administer the treatment are not certified and are only trained. In addition, the hospital has required the patients to sign a consent form with the hospital, which the patients had a major problem with. Since the problem made it public, the Ministry of Health has been summoned by the patients and now the Office of the Ombudsman to intervene and resolve the matter. And since Wednesday News Five has also been tirelessly trying to get Belize Health Care Partners to give their side of the story. We were promised that at some point between meetings with the Ministry, we would have been provided with an interview, first on Wednesday, then on Thursday when they could not iron out the finer details. Today, the hospital’s Public Relations Manager, Collet Montejo, promised a press conference. With the news deadline drawing nearer and that possibility closing, we were then promised an interview after another meeting which started with Ministry personnel at two thirty. But up to news time, Montejo could not be reached. Another hospital employee, a Mrs. Craig who we were referred to on Thursday was not available to us. We’ll follow this story on Monday to see if we have better luck then.