BELIZE CITY, Wed. Feb. 24, 2021– On Wednesday, the Acting Director of Health Services, Dr. Melissa Diaz-Musa, decided to return to her post as Deputy Regional Health Manager and Primary Health Coordinator, leaving the post of DHS in the country of Belize vacant.
This decision by Dr. Diaz-Musa was made just one day after the substantive Director of Health Services, Dr. Marvin Manzanero, was placed on administrative leave by the Ministry of Health and Wellness (MOHW) for what the Ministry is classifying as misconduct on his part during the first months of the COVID-19 response.
With Dr. Manzanero under investigation and Dr. Diaz-Musa back at her previous post, the MOHW and the country of Belize are left without a lead coordinator in our fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Manzanero returned to work on Monday, February 15, but instead of being welcomed to his office, he was asked to sign a demotion letter. He was advised by professional associates of his not to do so, and just one day later he was placed on administrative leave on what looks like trumped-up charges against him. Very serious charges.
The letter from the CEO in the Ministry of Health and Wellness claims that Dr. Manzanero contributed to COVID-19 deaths because he refused to accept an offer from the Belize Agricultural Health Authority (BAHA) to conduct testing in their laboratory facilities. This decision was made in the first months of the pandemic, when the National Oversight Committee, first co-chaired by Prime Minister Dean Barrow and then leader of the Opposition John Briceno were making the ultimate decisions regarding the COVID-19 response in the country.
As a result, it could be argued that Dr. Manzanero made no unilateral decision to accept or deny any offer, since in his capacity as Director of Health Services (DHS) he acted as an employee and consultant to the Government of Belize, which could also be held liable for the deaths allegedly caused by the purported inaction of Dr. Manzanero.
On December 17, 2020, when the COVID-19 numbers were soaring in Belize, Dr. Melissa Diaz-Musa was appointed as Acting Director of Health Services. Since then, we have seen a significant reduction in the number of daily infections and deaths associated with the COVID-19 virus.
Questions have arisen, however, over whether she was legally appointed.
The President of the Association of Public Service Senior Managers (A.P.S.S.M.), Sharon Fraser, told News5 that the Public Services Commission (PSC) made no decision to appoint an Acting Director of Health Services or assign a new person to the post, effectively making Dr. Manzanero the rightful DHS.
She said that the PSC held its first meeting since the November 2020 general elections on Friday, February 19, 2021. Since the group hasn’t met since then, the December 17th appointment of Dr. Diaz-Musa was never approved by the PSC. Her contracted term was scheduled to end March 17, 2021, but as mentioned earlier, she opted out of the post to return to her previous position. Reports are that she will still work to facilitate the COVID-19 vaccination rollout.
And while Fraser views the move against Dr. Manzanero as an attack on his reputation, she also remarked that she is disappointed in the way the whole situation is playing out, given the professionalism and obviously stellar work that Dr. Diaz-Musa has carried out and the fact that this fiasco has caused her work to be looked at “through the wrong lenses”.
We reached out to the Ministry of Health and Wellness for an official comment on that matter but received no reply. We will continue to follow this story.