New Health Minister Thanks PM and Pledges to Listen To Health Care Professionals

Kevin Bernard

The new Minister of Health, Kevin Bernard, spoke to News Five on Monday about the direction he intends to take the Ministry in, and how he will address the many challenges that the Ministry faces in the midst of a COVID crisis. The Minister started off by thanking Prime Minister John Briceño for placing the confidence in him to steer the Ministry out of strong currents. Minister Bernard said that as the new Minister, he wants to take a look at the entire structure of the Ministry to identify the strengths and weaknesses, and also to build the morale of the personnel. He pledged to listen to the medical professionals around him.

Kevin Bernard, Minister of Health & Wellness

“My utmost goal is to surround myself with the right people, technical people, heed advice. One thing I can say in leadership is that you don’t just only lead from top (to) bottom, but you lead also from bottom up. You need to be able to listen to everybody around you; get the right advice. I’m no doctor, but we have to be able to listen to the legal experts that will guide the best manner in which we can lead this Ministry. We’re in the middle of Omicron; we don’t know what other variant may come to this country. We are poised as a government to ensure that we can do our utmost best to reduce the effects of COVID in this country and on the health of our nation, but at the same time, to turn things around as it relates to the services provided by all of our facilities publicly here in Belize. So, I’m confident – I’m optimistic – that while this is a new chapter in my political career, I’m prepared to do the job set out by the Prime Minister to me.”

Marion Ali

“You just mentioned having new – appointing new technical people, do you have any names that you’d like to see fill those posts? Any persons that come to mind?”

Kevin Bernard

“Well, I have just gotten the appointment today by the Prime Minister. I believe that I need to go into the Ministry first of all, take a look at what exists, speak to the various heads of departments, listen to the people on the ground, listen to the nurses at these facilities – in the Ministry itself – I need to speak to the staff to see what are the challenges they face; what are the things that they would recommend. I can’t tell you that I have any names or I will lie to you if I tell you that. I’m not going in there to (do) any witch-hunting; I’m going in there to get our Ministry of Health back on track and to work with the people that are there.”