Wednesday, June 17, 2009

KHMH staff go on strike

On Wednesday morning, medic care providers at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital (KHMH) went on strike after the Chief of Staff Doctor Khalid Ghazy was immediately fired on Tuesday. Doctor Ghazy was terminated without any reason by the KHMH Director of Finance former Orange Walk Town Council Carlos Pererra (below).Dr. John Sosa
Doctor Ghazy (below) became vocal from weeks ago about several irregularities by board members including Pererra and the Chair of Board of Director Ricardo Fabro, who are both in-laws. Some of the irregularities include the use of KHMH vehicles for personal use, purchase of pharmaceutical to alleged political friends and the high use of hospital fuel vouchers. Doctor John Sosa (President of the Belize Medical and Dental Union), who spoke to the media stated that the differences became personal attacks which were hashed out during hospital Board meetings. This led to the firing of Dr. Ghazy and no reason has been given as of press time.Only the emergency ward was operational until the strike was called off at 1:00 p.m. following a truce between KHMH medic care providers, their Board of Directors and the Ministry of Health.

American Way magazine unveiled

American Way: it is a visitors Magazine that is published by American Airlines and circulated in all American Airline flights. In its June 15th 2009 publication, American Way featured Belize in its main travel article. It is the first time in our collective history that Belize is featured in the American Way Magazine.Opening Remarks delivered by Shakira Oxley-Tsai, Director of Marketing and Public RelationsEditor of American Way Magazine Adam Pitluk
President and Group Publisher, American Airlines Publishing
During the unveiling of the article on Wednesday morning at the Radisson Fort George Hotel, stakeholders in the tourism industry, the media and even the Prime Minister Honorable Dean Barrow got the opportunity to be amongst the first to see the Magazine’s Beautiful Belize publication. In fact, the cover page of the magazine features the beautiful Kim Simplis Barrow, the Prime Minister’s wife sitting down on the beach with the Caribbean Sea in the background.

Introducing the First Lady of Belize was Mike Singh, CEO of the Ministry of Tourism, Civil Aviation and Culture.

Reflection of Experience by Kim Simplis Barrow, First Lady of Belize

The article was written and edited by Adam Pitluk, a former reporter for several magazines including Time Magazine, People Magazine and Boys’ Life Magazine to name a few. “When I first came to Belize, it felt like a home coming [coming to home],” stated Pitluk during the unveiling ceremony. The article entitled “Beautiful Belize; where the beach is only the beginning,” narrates Pitluk and his team’s visit to Belize from their arrival to the departure including encounters with several people in Belize. Unveiling of the Magazine was carried out by Michelle Bowers and Lorena Martinez

Prime Minister of Belize Dean Barrow and Honorable Manuel Heredia Minister of Tourism, Civil Aviation and Culture going through their copy of American Way

American Way is published twice a month and is circulated to over 130 million passengers every year. The Magazine remains on all American Airline flights around the world for a period of two weeks and targets about eight million people in that span of time. The online version of the articles remains posted for a longer period of time. It is not certain what is the dollar value for such free publication but it is in the millions.