Capital City hospital gets new wing and surgical ward

The mood was celebratory at the Western Regional Hospital this past Monday. While on another assignment we found that the Belmopan Hospital has leaked from one era to the other. Through a partnership with Project Cure, the hospital has received modern medical equipment to provide the community with more efficient health care. News Five’s Jose Sanchez has a report.

Jose Sanchez, reporting

The Western Regional Hospital serves the capital and treats many referrals from neighbouring districts. On Sunday, shooting victim, Dean Dougal, was transported in critical condition from San Ignacio to Belmopan to remove bullets from his body. The surgeries were successful and came on the heels of a new wing being launched in Belmopan.

Doctor Jesus Ken, Medical Chief of Staff, Western Regional Hospital

“Today was a dual purpose celebration, actually. We want to acknowledge the Project Cure people for donating a substantial amount of medical supplies and equipment to the Western Regional Hospital. Also it was a day where we decided to do the opening ceremony of the new emergency wing which is already functioning. And also for the opening new surgical suite which boasts two operating theaters. So it’s like a milestone for us today.”

According to Medical Chief of Staff, Doctor Jesus Ken, the milestone is partially due to a substantial donation from Project Cure.

Doctor Jesus Ken

dr jesus ken

“This whole area is a new wing; the operating area is a new wing. And the people from project Cure are quoting an eight hundred U.S. dollar donation. We received a very large list of materials. But I can say that we got a C-arm—that’s an x-ray unit. Also there was an anesthetic machine and also an operating table.”

If you take a look at what the doctors had to use for over forty years, then you’d appreciate the cutting edge technology and modern upgrade the hospital now boasts. Technologically, it is comparable to moving from the Stone Age to the computer age.

Doctor Jesus Ken

“This is a very large jump forward. We had one operating room from the time the operation room was built and that was sometime around 1970. So that was the one that we had been using. Now with two suites definitely we will be able to provide simultaneous procedures. If there is a contamination in one of the theatres, then the next one will be available so that we don’t have to refer just because we are closing for contaminations as in the pass. Also with the adequate equipment can perform orthopedic surgery in the future, in the near future.”

Jose Sanchez

“So essentially, your services will be improved tremendously?”

Doctor Jesus Ken

“That’s what we believe. We gonna have a big upgrade to the quality and level of care to the population. The new operating theatre suite also has a full recovery room so that patients are fully awake before we take them to the wards which is we had that disadvantage in the other room.”

Jose Sanchez

“So in the pass, you had to go from operating straight into the ward?”

Doctor Jesus Ken

“Well not necessarily we just had to have someone around the patient until the patient more or less can respond later and then taken out. But now there is an area only for that. Also a pre-anesthesia room that is also important.”

Also important to the new wing, is a doctor’s quarters, complete with a kitchenette and two computers attached to the National Health Information System. The equipment, new surgical ward and emergency wing are welcome and necessary additions to the hospital to cope with the violence that continues to plague the country. Reporting for News Five, Jose Sanchez.