World Health Day Symposium focuses on hospital safety
‘When Disasters Strike Safe Hospitals Save Lives’. That’s the theme of this year’s World Health Day Symposium and the message that resonated at this morning’s opening ceremony as medical facilities begin to prepare for the upcoming hurricane season and other disasters. According to the Director of Health Services in the Ministry of Health, Dr. Michael Pitts, the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, the country’s only referral hospital, can only withstand a category one hurricane because Belize City is below sea level. Pitts says there are facilities in other parts of the country that can deal with heavier flooding but there is none that is equipped for a category five storm. News Five was at the Radisson where Acting PAHO representative in Belize, Dr. Guillermo Troya, told us that hospital safety is an issue but there are guidelines, technical cooperation and financial support available to build proper health facilities.
Dr. Guillermo Troya, Ag. PAHO Representative, Belize
“Safety is a real problem. It used to be worse for many, many countries in the world. Developed and developing countries are prone to disasters and when a disaster occurs some of the health facilities are affected. But in the last few years, with the support of P.A.H.O. and other international organizations, we are trying to improve the hospital building. A hospital right now, a hospital should not be affected by a disaster if it’s properly built. It’s not more costly—it doesn’t cost more money, it’s just that it has to follow certain guides in the building of the facility to prevent that it will be affected by a disaster.”
Dr. Michael Pitts, Director of Health Services, Min. of Health
“We have been disaster planning, and preparedness of our staff for disaster planning. And I think we need to tighten up those plans. Every year we go through reviews of the plan but each time we have a hurricane or flood, we bring into action one of those plans and then we go back and we revisit what we did well, what we didn’t do well and we reorganize the plan. So this has been going on for a number of years so we are improving each time around. Most of the time we think in terms of in our own situation, batten up the house and so on. This program is saying no, we have to look at from the point when we started to build the house, where we build the house. Do we build in a flood plane for example? Do we build on the top of a hill in sand or build on a firm foundation? Do we, for example, build hospitals with the proper building code? The roof is on the right way, it has the right height, the windows are built from the right material and so. Those are some of the lessons that we could learn and utilize.”
According to Pitts, medical facilities countrywide are being assessed to determine how safe they are and what improvements will be needed.
