Things seem to be getting worse at the Karl Huesner Memorial Hospital. Besides having twenty four of the fifty six doctors at the facility calling in sick today, Medical Chief of Staff, Dr. Khalid Ghazi has announced his resignation. Whether or not the union sanctioned the sickout is still unclear as we have been unable to get in touch with Dr. John Sosa, President of the Belize Medical and Dental Union. Dr. Ghazi however spoke to the media this morning explaining what will be done to keep the hospital running without these doctors.
Doctor Khalid Ghazi; Medical Chief of Staff, KHMH
“We came from the weekend and the weekend is very hectic so you have staff on leave so we are trying to cover with the existing staff for today. Basically, we have all the basic specialty functioning with some specialists and medical officers on board so we can cover accident and emergency without any problem right now. The rounds were done this morning, the patient was discharged, the patients were taken care of and medication was disbursed. We try to get some assistance from some medical officer from the region if that is going to help to cover our accident and emergency and the basic specialty that we have. We do have a couple of clinics that were cancelled this morning because they called in sick. Well I am not aware of how long this will be but I hope that something will be resolved as early as tomorrow.”
The problem began three weeks ago when Ghazi had been terminated and reinstated and since then there has been no amicable solution to the concerns raised by the doctors. The KHMH board has responded by saying that the allegations are unsubstantiated, but have agreed to carry out a full audit and report to the Prime Minister. Over the course of the three weeks the public has seen the back and forth between the parties and then the introduction of a mediator which never yielded any tangible results. Today Dr. Ghazi pleaded to the Prime Minister to intervene to try and solve the ongoing saga.
Doctor Khalid Ghazi; Medical Chief of Staff, KHMH
“I am an administrator in this hospital and I try to get the cover as much as I can for out patients so 7o’clock this morning I tried to gather all the staff to see how we can work. This is not really something easy to work with because you can reach to a point where you get exhausted so we have to stretch. I am concerned that we are stretched very thin right now and I am pleading to the prime minister of this country to intervene and solve this problem as soon as possible. We cannot continue like this.”
Ghazi also announced today that he has tendered his resignation. He has been with the public health service for the past thirteen years and served the capacity of chief of staff for the past three years.
Doctor Khalid Ghazi; Medical Chief of Staff, KHMH
“I did submit my resignation on Friday and I think it is in the process of being accepted. I do not think I can work with this board because I have lost the trust and I am sorry I cannot work in the environment because I am not very happy with it. I did submit my resignation on Friday and this was the hardest I think I am passing through. Thing were going the in way we had envisioned or planned but in seems to me that in the past moth we are just seems to me that we are going down to the level of basic regional hospital. We are not weary to go there that early. I am pleading again to the authority, to the prime minister to solve this problem as soon as possible. Our patients, doctors and nurses do not deserve that so we have to solve this problem.”
Ghazi’s resignation will take effect on August tenth. So far there has been no official comment on the sickout from the Ministry of Health or the KHMH Board. The union will be meeting tonight and will be commenting to the media on Tuesday. LoveFM

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