A tourist collapsed and died while on a diving trip at the Blue Hole Natural Monument. The U.S. visitor, Larry Smith, was along a group of nineteen tourists who left from the Ramon’s Village dock. According to dive master, Marcus Alamina, of San Pedro, the trip started at about six-thirty on Thursday morning. On arrival at […]
As much as three hundred and seventy thousand dollars was siphoned off from the Southern Regional’s Maternal and Child Health account over two years. Administrator Nasley Sommerville has been fingered in the embezzlement of hospital funds in which a subsequent audit found that there was a clear lack of accountability on the part of the […]
Since chikungunya fever became an emerging threat within Latin America and the Caribbean in April, the spread of the mosquito-transmitted infection has been closely monitored regionally. The number of CHIKV cases has surpassed a hundred and ninety thousand between the two territories, with the Dominican Republic reporting the most instances over the past several weeks. […]
According to Chief Operations Officer Kim Bautista, of the Vector Control Unit, the combination of two particular species of disease-transmitting mosquitoes is responsible for the rapid spread of chikungunya across the hemisphere since December. In Belize, it is expected that members of that department will commence site surveys and vector control in the weeks ahead. […]
The Caribbean Regional Testing Day was established in 2008 as a designated day in June to promote HIV testing. Throughout the Caribbean, Ministries of Health, Scotiabanks, and other local agencies organize testing activities in their country. Locally, the Ministry of Health, National AIDS Commission, PASMO Belize and Scotiabank Belize have partnered for the last three […]
It’s expected that we will experience stress every day in our lives for many different reasons. But when your responsibilities at work or home, or in some cases both become more than you can handle; you can be at risk for burnout. Tonight on Healthy Living we sit down with a Mental Health Professional to […]
An investigation is now completed at the Western Regional Hospital where a young mother was told her baby was stillborn. Allisha Bell says that before she was wheeled into the delivery room; she felt her baby move, but soon after a c-section, she and the baby’s father, Marlon Reymundo, were told the baby had died. […]
New Horizon is back in Belize; a collaboration between local and US military forces. This year the focus is on health, and today the Western Regional Hospital, thanks to New Horizon, inaugurated a new psychiatric health ward. It’s an important addition to the facility which already offers a program in psychiatric health care. Mike Rudon […]
This June is a special awareness month for a disease you’ve probably never heard about. It’s called Myasthenia Gravis (MG), a very rare auto-immune disease causing muscle weakness which affects all ethnic groups and both genders. It can occur at any age but is most common in young adult women and older men. While little […]
Ministry of Health C.E.O. Peter Allen has come under serious and sustained fire recently. There have been public allegations made against him by parties in the Ministry of Health who claim that he is an incompetent and manipulative manager. He’s also been written up in audit reports on the misappropriation and misallocation of public funds […]
You heard earlier about Prime Minister Barrow’s comments on Health C.E.O. Peter Allen. He also touched on the comprehensive audits at the Southern Regional Hospital and the Central Region. But there are reports that other audits in other areas are also highlighting financial irregularities. Barrow says that where audits are concerned it’s damned if you […]
On May twenty-ninth, manager of Cavetubing.bz Vitalino Reyes Junior was badly beaten at the Long Island Bar in Belize City. Six employees of Yhony Rosado’s Cavetubing.com, a competitor, have since been arrested and charged by Police for the assault. Rosado maintains that his employees are innocent and none of them touched Reyes. Still, the twenty-three […]
On April thirtieth the Public Service Union sent a letter to the Ministry of Labour asking for intervention in the appointment of Danini Contreras as Director of Drug Inspectorate. Now when Labour gets involved it’s usually because of a dispute, and it seems that the Ministry didn’t see one in the appointment. So the Labour […]
On Wednesday, Danini Contreras attended a teleconference session at PAHO. That in itself is no cause for cause for controversy, but in the current atmosphere at the Ministry of Health, there’s plenty of speculation and frustration. It is known that C.E.O. Peter Allen does not get along with Chief Pharmacist, Sharon Anderson. There is evidence […]
Getting healthy and staying motivated is difficult. Many of us struggle finding a workout routine that we can stick to. Belizean fitness coach, Joel McD, has embarked on a brand new initiative to bring specialized fitness training accessible by every Belizean right at home. He has designed and launched a free online fitness program that […]
New Director of the Drug Inspectorate Danini Contreras continues to make the news. The appointment of the daughter of Minister Erwin Contreras has created major controversy in the Ministry of Health. This morning Contreras, along with Drug Inspector Marietta Enriquez, attended a brainstorming session at the offices of PAHO in Belize City. The Ministry of […]
The discovery of a fetus under a bed is the latest scandal to hit the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. On Friday, a decomposed fetus was discovered only when an Orange Walk patient in the Observation Ward alerted hospital personnel. According to a police release captioned ‘abandoned fetus,’ it was found at around eight p.m. when […]
There have been all sorts of scandalous allegations of wrongdoings made against the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, but tonight there is a troubling report that has been confirmed by the police. The K.H.M.H. is not providing further details, but on Friday night, sometime around eight o’clock, a patient from Orange Walk alerted the nurses on […]
This week is celebrated as Pharmacy Week, a joint initiative of the Government of Belize and the private sector. We’ll have more on that later, but first the issue which has shaken up the pharmacy sector in Belize – the appointment of Danini Contreras as the first Director of Drug Inspectorate with the Ministry of […]
Every year, thousands of Belizeans walk from Ladyville to Belize City to raise awareness and fight cancer. On Saturday morning, bright and early, young and old, men and women as well as children came from all over the country and from other parts to support persons who are affected or families who have lost loved […]
As we told you earlier, Pharmacy Week is being celebrated this week, and the provision of quality health care is a focus. It’s mainly about creating awareness of pharmacists and the role they play in the provision of health care. Today Pharmacists Association President Hortence Humes told us about the activities planned this week. […]
Tour Operator, Vitalino Reyes Junior of Cavetubing dot bz, is in a coma at the K.H.M.H. tonight, the victim of a brutal beating on Thursday evening. It happened at a popular club off Coney Drive. A man who was with Reyes Junior says they were beaten by a group of men who work for Yhony […]
The annual Cancer Awareness Walk from Ladyville to Belize City takes place this Saturday. The event has continued to attract thousands of Belizeans year after year to walk the almost ten mile journey. For all of us, every aching mile is worth it as we show our support for cancer survivors and in memory of […]
Last week, News Five took a look at a comprehensive audit of the Central Health Region. The report detailed many cases of apparent financial misappropriation, financial misrepresentation and financial misallocation. Basically, the team found that CHR Head Melinda Guerra and assorted players completed ignored standard accounting practices and financial orders, and in cases lied to […]
News Five has reported extensively on two comprehensive audits which point to large-scale financial irregularities and misuse of public funds – one for the Southern Regional Hospital and the other for the Central Health Region. There’s also the matter of two ongoing disputes at the Ministry of Health – one between Health C.E.O., Peter Allen, […]
