Tonight, the country's biggest hospital is suffering what a doctor might describe as multiple organ failure. As we've been reporting the roof is caving in at the KHMH - and about 50% of the hospital has been closed down and cordoned off as a precaution. This includes key areas such as the Operating Theatre, the Central Sterilization Unit, the Imaging Department, the Specialist Clinics, the Pharmacy and Dietary Services. All these essential services have been suspended until further notice.
This all started last week Thursday when a piece of the cement structure holding a portion of the building together literally fell out of the ceiling at the Imaging Department - which is where you go for X-Ray's and CT Scans.
Since then, multiple engineering assessments have been made and the prognosis is not great: the hospital can recover, but not immediately: a permanent solution needs to be found. A Mexican team of hospital engineers is being brought in to make an assessment and propose a fix, but until then, the KHMH is running in critical, but stable condition.
This morning we spoke to the CEO for a complete overview:
Dr. Adrian Coye, CEO - KHMH
"We are in a crisis situation."
Jules Vasquez reporting
A structural crisis that only these steel supports - a reported 120 of them across half the hospital - are averting.
Dr. Adrian Coye, CEO - KHMH
"The services core to the functions of a hospital have all been affected in different ways. So in a general way of understanding it's like a multi organ failure within the institution."
But Coye says evacuation is not necessary:
Dr. Adrian Coye, CEO - KHMH
"I just want to suspend any continued belief that the hospital roof collapsed it did not collapse. But we saw revelations of a structural failure which immediate intervention were done to diminish risk to our staff and patients. There is no imminent collapse. It does not require evacuation which is something said in other forums already and of course we've had to dramatically increase some services so that we can reorganize."
Jules Vasquez, reporter
"So every area that is still in use you can say based on the engineers' assessment is 100% safe?"
Dr. Adrian Coye, CEO - KHMH
"I can never say and no engineer will ever say it's a hundred percent safe, Jules. What we have done is averted any major risk."
Jules Vasquez, reporter
"But you all had been aware that the roof was leaking."
Dr. Adrian Coye, CEO - KHMH
"Listen, from the time this hospital opened the roof has leaked, okay. From the time the hospital opened and the first rain came, the water went through the walls. These are legends, but it's not leakage of the roof that has led to the structural challenge that we now have. That has nothing to do with it. Now this is not a very good situation for everyone because we have such an important role for service delivery in the country that we would like as quickly as possible - to go back to a level of normalcy - because we know that this has a big impact on the quality of life and the care that we have to provide for our for our Belizean population."
"There is no way we could say confidently that in two weeks we will be 100%, because it is not so. We will be in a state of compromise or restricted services for a period of time."
Jules Vasquez, reporter
"What would be your word to those in the public who feel insecure, knowing that the KHMH is 50% and it can't receive all the services that they would expect?"
Dr. Adrian Coye, CEO - KHMH
"Again - this is some ways uncharted territory. We are as management team and as a hospital. we are making every effort for us to be in a far better position by the end of the week to serve our population better. So if you have an emergency, I am telling you that we are there for you. We are there with limitations and that they should not fear coming to the hospital."
"An example being Saturday night. All of those cases came here we were able to address them even in our state of compromise. However when it comes to the walk-in cases and so, we are encouraging them to utilize their nearest health center."
There is no known timeline for the Mexican engineers to arrive. The Ministry of Health says the will be here this week, they are aware it's urgent and they have received structural plans to review before getting here.
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