Emergency Evacuation after Ceiling Problems at K.H.M.H.

This evening, there was mass movement at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital in Belize City. News Five understands that there were issues with the ceiling of the national referral hospital, necessitating urgent action. We are told that doctors and nurses had to be called back to the hospital to assist with the evacuation. Late this evening, the hospital said that a structural review of the building was being undertaken due to falling debris from the ceiling of the facility and that an assessment has determined the need for immediate remedial reinforcement of a section of the hospital roof. A release says, “That while repairs are being executed and in the interest of safety, we are limiting traffic through the facility as such there will be no clinics or elective services for the remainder of this week.” It is not clear whether patients were sent home or where in the hospital they were moved to as space is at a premium. The hospital was first established in 1995 and is both the primary national referral hospital and main hospital for the Belize District.