Back in April 2024, the Ministry of Health and Wellness collaborated with the EU to begin the retrofitting of the Central Medical Lab. The lab had been deteriorating over the years - and even survived a fire - but somehow the technicians found a way to work within the less than ideal space. Now, a little over a year later, the newly retrofitted lab has been reopened. The Director of Hospital Services told us more.
Dr Jorge Polanco, Director of Hospital Services, MOHW
"As you saw today, indeed it's a significant milestone, a great change, something that the staff was really looking forward. If you heard it was mentioned that in 2006 there was a fire that actually destroyed the bottom floor."
"So that in itself put the people to the staff to work in limited spaces. Over the years the building began with some leakages, put it that way, as a result it gave way to algae. Anyway, in a nutshell it was really in bad conditions and it was said since the European Union project was on that this could be one building whereby it could be refurbished to make it within their context of having smart and green health facilities."
"So this is one of the six health facilities that were refurbished. You did hear earlier that you had community hospitals and the regional hospitals, five of them, and then this was the sixth one. This was started last year April, and it is concluded it's the staff should be moving at any time."
"The only thing that they're spending is the installation of the internet and basically the internet, what we call the Belize health information system, and they would be ready to move in. With a new space right now, we do already have new equipment added to the existing and some new equipment, especially when we say what we call a PCR, which is a test with the equipment there that would allow us, for example, in the case of viruses to tell us exactly what type of virus that is. That was a test that we had limited function, very limited space, very limited staff, but throughout the last two, three years, after COVID, during COVID and after COVID, has been assisting us significantly in the training of different medical technologies in the area of microbiology and the PCR."
"And we have the new equipment also. I think some of them you saw up there. Some other ones might be in some boxes, which will be transported."
The cost of the project was approximately 2.4 million Belize dollars.
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