Medical Supplies Worth BZ$100,000 Donated to Belize Health Facilities

Yesterday, the Ministry of Health and Wellness received a donation of medical supplies and equipment from the Straughan & Sigler Foundation, with the aid of the Belize Chinese Association and Build Belize Incorporated. The contribution, valued at BZ $100,000, will be distributed to health facilities across the country. Director of Public Health & Wellness, Dr. Melissa Diaz-Musa, welcomed the assistance and spoke about how it will benefit the public health sector. 

Dr. Melissa Diaz-Musa, Director of Public Health and Wellness: “I would like to express our sincere gratitude to you all for these donations being handed over to us today. These medical supplies have been identified as needs for our community and from our team, and it represents what we utilize in our health facilities on a daily basis. These will definitely ensure that healthcare can be given more efficiently and more effectively at our health facilities. We are very cognizant of the fact that donations like these involve significant coordination, significant effort, and a lot of hard work in order for it to be here today. And for this, we are truly grateful. It is also wonderful for us as a ministry to collaborate with all partners, with you partners here with us today, in order to achieve a higher standard of healthcare for our population and it is important for us to continue to nurture and to develop continuous relations of this kind. We look forward to strengthening our collaborative efforts and to more events like these in the near future.”

Sandra Hall, the Build Belize Inc. representative, also spoke to our friends at the government press office and harped on the collaborative effort to bring the medications into the country. 

Sandra Hall, Representative for Build Belize Inc.: “We collaborate with the diaspora to get donations for our people in Belize and logistically, sometimes we have to rely on the people in the United States or here to arrange that because you know that’s one of the biggest challenges to get stuff into Belize for various reasons not only the cost, but just packaging and getting everything to where we can get them shipped. So we have, thankfully, we have lots of Belizeans who care, who deeply care about Belize and so we rely on them and their expertise and their willingness and their commitment and their hearts to get stuff into Belize. Because for years that has been a challenge to get donations and I think that is one of the things that frustrated Belizeans who wanted to donate to our people. They found it so challenging, you know, so it’s not one person it’s a collaboration among many people. My heart is warm. It really warms my heart because, for instance today these donations will impact the lives of our poor, people who rely on the public healthcare system, people who don’t have insurance, people who cannot go to a private hospital and so it warms my heart to know that the beneficiaries of the donations will really make a difference in their lives. And sometimes a little medication, a little treatment is a matter of life and death and we don’t understand that. And so when I see people giving to Belize and Belizeans giving back to Belize, it really warms my heart.”