Western Regional Hospital Receives $1.1M Renovation Grant from US SOUTHCOM

Yesterday, in a significant step toward the betterment of healthcare in Belize, the Western Regional Hospital has received funding for renovations from the US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) Humanitarian Assistance Program, representing a one point one million US dollar investment into the health sector. The official handing over ceremony was held yesterday in Belmopan.  Minister of Health and Wellness, Kevin Bernard, gave a breakdown of his ministry’s plans.  

Kevin Bernard, Minister of Health and Wellness: “That project is a donation of over $2 million Belize dollars, it’s is actually one million ten thousand US dollars contribution. It’s seeing the entire upgrade of the general ward. When I stepped into that general ward yesterday I said we want to see similar things like these in the other regional facilities and other facilities because of course as you know Belmopan, Western Regional, was built many years ago just like Northern Region and the Southern Region and so as upgrades have been going on across the country with these facilities, there’s still a lot to be done and so again the renovation that was done at the general ward was timely from the expression that was, the views that was expressed yesterday by the doctors and nurses that were there to witness that change they are very happy. I mean, again, as I said in my message to the nurses and doctors yesterday, we continue to appreciate the work that they do and we must ensure that the environment that they work in is adequate enough, one that is going to boost morale, not just only for the patient but for the employees that work at those facilities. And so, now that we have done that, I believe that we are going to start to be moving within next week or two to have the, because right now where the general ward is where the COVID patients were at one time. So we’re moving all those back over to the general ward now that we have completed. It has a new staffing area, it has some nice consultation section wards that are very much well designed. You know, so it is also even, we have even included new tiling for the flooring. And so it brings a more uplifting spirit.”

The refurbishment of the general ward at the Western Regional Hospital is one of the priorities in this project with US Southcom.   Minister Bernard explained that with the facility being built many years ago, upgrades are urgent.

Kevin Bernard, Minister of Health and Wellness: “When somebody visits the hospital you don’t want to go into the hospital you’re already sick and then you feel the surroundings just brings you down more so that’s what the reason why when they do these new renovations you want to bring a more uplifting type of color scheme within the hospital but not only that while it’s structural it also ensures that the staff who are providing the service are able to provide better service to the Belizean people who visit the facilities.” 

The event marks another milestone in the ongoing efforts to enhance Belize’s healthcare while strengthening relations between Belize and the United States.