Recently several people have
expressed their concern regarding the state of health care on our island. The
good news is the Director of Health Services, Dr. Errol Vanzie, has taken steps
to alleviate the problem of health coverage for the island. In a letter to the
San Pedro Lions Club, Dr. Vanzie assured them of the Ministry of Health's
commitment to provide adequate health coverage to the people of San Pedro,
Ambergris Caye. He went on to say that it is the Ministry of Health's belief
that the Government Clinic and the Lions Clinic are complementary to each other
in responding to the health needs of the local population.
In his letter, Dr. Vanzie also mentioned that after
reviewing the health statistics coming from the island and taking into
consideration the size of the population, they are confident that two physicians
are adequate to provide for the health care needs of Ambergris Caye. These
figures are said to be well within the international standard of one doctor for
every 4,000 inhabitants. Nevertheless the Director of
Health Services feels that there is a problem with health coverage after working
hours, weekends and holidays. He feels that the reasonable solution to this
problem is to provide on-call services to the population for emergencies but
clearly one doctor cannot be on-call everyday of the week and weekends. As a
solution they have put a system into place in which the two government appointed
physicians (Drs. Lenin Quintana Reyes and Giovanni Solorzano) will alternate
daily and weekend on-call hours. To accommodate the needs
of the public, to avoid confusion and in order to facilitate access to required
pharmaceuticals, all on-call services will be provided out of the Government
Clinic. The following is the schedule for the month of
April. Dr. Lenin Quintana Reyes ñ April 5, 9, 11, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, 23, 25,
27, 28 and 29. Dr. Giovanni Solorzano ñ April 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 16, 18, 20,
21, 22, 24, 26 and 30. The San Pedro Sun
will publish the monthly schedule as a service to the people of
Ambergris Caye. Many thanks to the Director of Health for aiding us in this
situation.
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