Western Regional Hospital will be expanded

This morning ground breaking ceremonies were held at the Western Regional Hospital in Belmopan to mark the official start of renovations to the existing facility and the construction of a new surgical wing. According to Health Manager Pearl Ellis, while the fresh paint and electrical improvements will be appreciated, the upgrades to the emergency unit, maternity ward, and the new operating rooms will enable doctors and nurses to the meet the growing needs of patients.

Pearl Ellis, Health Manager, Western Region
“Over the years this hospital has been functioning with one operating room. During that time the population, I can say this as well in the year 2000, population in the Cayo district was fifty-two thousand, and last year at the mid estimate, population for the Cayo district is now seventy thousand. So clearly you can see where the population has increased drastically and we have found that this one operating room is inadequate to meet the demands of the population that we have.”

“And as I stand here I can show you now that work has now commenced. As we look over there we can see work is actually happening for the two operating theatres and we will still do the renovations within the hospital as well.”

Jose Coye, Minister of Health
“It’s not just about groundbreaking for the curative side of the health system, because again, if you are going to use health as the centre of your development strategy you have to ensure that you are getting the most bang out of that dollar. And any community, any society that is serious about having its people generally feeling good and functioning good, obviously have to think seriously about the preventative strategy in health, otherwise health will never be affordable. Health for all can not be affordable in a country where we are neglecting the preventive side.”

The project is estimated to cost six hundred and four thousand dollars with construction to be done by Wilhelm Lopez of Lopez Equipment Company. The money is being provided by the Government of Belize through loan funds from the Inter-American Development Bank. Construction is expected to be completed by December.