The Belize Healthcare System: How to Get Care as a French National

The Ministry of Health and Wellness runs the system, whose sector strategy emphasises primary care, according to the health profile published by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). A sector reform decentralised the organisation; community health workers are coordinated by the health education and community participation bureau. The ministry can be reached on +501 822 2325 from Belmopan.

At the top of the public network, the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital presents itself as the national referral hospital, with emergencies, advanced diagnostics, surgery, maternity, a neonatal intensive care unit and specialties (paediatrics, orthopaedics, urology, cardiology, neurology, ENT, internal medicine, gynaecology-obstetrics); it offers payment facilities but does not publish its fees. It is complemented by regional and community hospitals in the other regions, whose up-to-date list should be requested from the ministry. France Diplomatie specifies that the main hospitals are in Belize City.

The Social Security Board (SSB) is the social security body: its contributions, paid by the employer with a share withheld from the salary, finance in particular benefits in the event of sickness, maternity and work accidents, as well as pensions; these are cash payments, not a reimbursement of care.

National health insurance (NHI) is a public-private partnership that finances primary care. According to PAHO, it has operated for about twenty years in the south of Belize City and in the south of the country, with a recent extension to areas of the north; the partial application creates, according to PAHO, inequalities between regions. The eligibility conditions for a foreign resident, notably registration with the SSB, and the area concerned are confirmed with the SSB.

PAHO also notes that user fees have been abolished in public facilities, without giving the date, and that household out-of-pocket payments represented more than a fifth of total health expenditure. The real cost for a foreigner varies: ask for the fee before any scheduled care.

France Diplomatie describes the medical infrastructure as underdeveloped and specifies that the most serious cases are evacuated to the United States, Mexico or the Caribbean. The names of private clinics are not repeated here: the insurer or assistance provider indicates its network, and direct payment avoids paying up front when the facility is a partner. Check that medical evacuation and medical repatriation are in the contract, as without insurance access to care may be refused, even in a life-threatening situation.

France Diplomatie does not publish medical emergency numbers for Belize: note them on arrival and confirm them with the Ministry of Health or your insurer. For an emergency, the French embassy in Guatemala, which is responsible for Belize, can be reached on +502 24 21 73 70 or +502 24 21 74 74 during office hours and on +502 52 02 20 22 outside office hours (consular section). First-line care comes under public polyclinics or a private town doctor.

• Keep a list of the facilities accessible from where you live, especially outside Belize City.
• Take the strictly necessary medicines in their original packaging, with a prescription under the international non-proprietary name.
• Check with your insurer how long-term treatments are handled and the prior agreement required for scheduled procedures.

• Mosquitoes: chikungunya, dengue (France Diplomatie notes an increase in cases in Belize) and zika. Malaria poses no risk in Belize City or on the tourist islands, with a few limited active foci in the south (Stann Creek). Protection: covering clothing, repellents, mosquito nets, removal of standing water.
• Water and food: typhoid fever through contaminated water or food; drink bottled or treated water, cook food, wash or peel fruit and vegetables.
• Rabies: fatal once symptoms appear; avoid any contact with animals, wash a bite with soap and seek medical advice immediately.
• Vaccines: French schedule up to date (diphtheria, tetanus, polio, whooping cough, measles); yellow fever compulsory for travellers coming from endemic areas; hepatitis A and B, typhoid, rabies depending on the stay; chikungunya and dengue depending on the epidemic situation.

See a doctor or an international vaccination centre well before departure.

A woman who is pregnant or planning a pregnancy sees a doctor before travelling: zika can have serious consequences for the unborn child, and protection against mosquito bites and against sexual transmission is essential. For young children and for stays in rural or isolated areas, France Diplomatie advises rabies vaccination, polio being among the diseases to prevent through vaccination.

For long-term treatment, plan for the medicines in their original packaging with a prescription under the international non-proprietary name, and discuss prior agreement and local availability with the insurer. Outside Belize City, where the main hospitals are, access to care takes longer: a chronic condition or a high-risk pregnancy calls for choosing where to live close to a reference facility.

The Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, in Belize City, concentrates the specialties and reference emergency care; the islands and remote villages are several hours away by transport, by road or by boat. The main roads linking the towns are paved and generally in good condition, but night driving should be avoided and bus timetables are irregular at weekends (France Diplomatie). In the event of a cyclone, shelters are opened: identify one near you before the season, from about June to November.

No social security agreement exists between France and Belize (CLEISS): the carte Vitale cannot be used. The options, depending on status, are the seconded employee’s retained scheme, the CFE (the French expatriates’ health fund) and international health insurance. The detail is in the page on healthcare reimbursement in Belize, the guide to healthcare systems around the world and the Belize country page.

• Take out insurance covering care, hospitalisation, repatriation and evacuation to the United States, Mexico or the Caribbean.
• Check the vaccination schedule, yellow fever required of travellers from endemic areas and boosters, several weeks before departure.
• Note the contacts: Ministry of Health (+501 822 2325), Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital (+501 280 1548) and French embassy in Guatemala (+502 23 57 24 06).
• Take the necessary medicines, with a prescription under the international non-proprietary name.
• Register on Fil d’Ariane (the France Diplomatie alert service for travellers); the honorary consul does not issue emergency travel documents: keep copies of your passport.