Government Approves $54M KHMH Debt Write-Off to Ease Financial Burden on Belizeans

Thousands of Belizeans will be benefiting from a fifty-four-million-dollar write-off of debt at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital (KHMH). On Friday, Minister of Health Kevin Bernard announced that Cabinet approved the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital Authority to proceed with the write-off. The move will see the hospital cancel the bills owed by patients for the period, April 2019 through to March 2022. According to Minister Bernard, the decision seeks to benefit Belizeans who have a hard time covering medical expenses after suffering injury or financial hardship. 

Kevin Bernard, Minister of Health and Wellness: “Madam Speaker, this amount includes debts accrued during the challenging COVID years. A time when many of our citizens faced unprecedented hardships. This is Plan Belize at work, Madam Speaker. This decisions is much more than just a financial adjustment. It represents a profound and immediate relief for thousands of Belizeans who have struggled under the weight of these debts. By removing these debts, Madam Speaker, we’re lifting a heavy cloud that has lingered over the heads of our citizens. This initiative reaffirms our government’s pledge to prioritize the health and wellbeing of all residents. Madam Speaker this bold step by this administration complements our decision back in October of 2023 to eliminate all clinical service fees from public hospitals in all clinics countrywide. Together these initiatives represent a compassionate and comprehensive approach to healthcare reform in our nation. We are not just talking about making healthcare accessible, we’re actively dismantling the barriers that have historically prevented many from reciting the medical attention they rightfully deserve.”

While the announcement was made on Friday, it was months in the making. Our newsroom understands that the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital Authority had initially requested a write-off in July last year. The authority says after careful deliberation it felt it needed to forego the debt to improve the hospital’s financial books. Chief Executive Officer of the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital Authority Chandra Nisbet-Cansino explained that the decision was made to improve the hospital’s operations. 

Chandra Nisbet Cansino, CEO, KHMHA: “Asking for a debt write off is nothing that we really love to do or that we really wanted to do. But like I said it’s an accounting procedure and the sum that was approved represents receivables from patients that the authority has on its books so these patients over the decades have come to the authority, received care and were billed and never paid. So they’re owed by patients who did not pay the bill and the hospital has to manage these accounts which is a cost. So we have persons in the collection unit hunting down these collections and all of that takes resources from the hospital. Historically I think they used to have a bailiff that would go and try to collect these bills and I think around 2015 there was actually a collection agency that was hired to try to collect on these debts and none of that yielded any results, any significant results. A little bit was collected here and there but the resources that were being expended to try to collect were far more than we were able to actually get back. And so this affected the authority’s ability to provide services and to meet costs to operate an so that that’s this financial action that is taken. It’s unusual in that not everybody is asking for a write off but it’s not an unusual action that is taken for uncollectible debt. And you know we have to realize as well that our patients are often times indigent and you know so you have person out there struggling to survive, get a heart attack, they come to the hospital, they’re taken care of when you come to the emergency nobody asks you who you voted for, what your salary, maybe if it’s a heart attack they go to the ICU for a week and when they are discharged they simply don’t have the money to pay that bill. So it also includes scenarios like that. So the debt write off is strictly because of uncollectible.”

CEO Nisbet-Cansino denied that the move was a political ploy by the government.