With the threat of Hurricane Dean very real on Monday morning, the KHMH’s Board decided to send all the patients to Belmopan and close down the hospital. It was a controversial decision because the KHMH is the national referral hospital. But as CEO Dr. Alvaro Rosado told us on Monday, it was a plan agreed upon six years ago. But plan or not, it turns out the KHMH didn’t close down, at least not completely. Rosado says at 4 pm a countermanding decision was made to keep the hospital open with skeleton staff. The news tonight though is that Dr. Rosado says closing down the entire hospital wasn’t a good idea and it won’t be repeated.
Dr. Alvaro Rosado, CEO – KHMH
“At 4 o’clock the team met again and decided that based on information that NEMO had given, assuring us that there was only going to be tropical storm winds in the city, that we would continue with emergency services at KHMH. So we remained opened. I must thank the staff very very much for volunteering to stay throughout the storm in Belize and we had more than enough people to man the emergency room and it was open all throughout the night. We did have a few admissions. There were two ladies who went into labor and they were brought to the KHMH.”
Keith Swift,
In the future, do you think the policy will change at the KHMH and the hospital will, at the threat of a storm, close it doors?
Dr. Alvaro Rosado,
“I think Keith we have to look at what’s on the ground because these are the things that would dictate the decisions that we make. The decision to evacuate Belize City was based on the fact that an engineer had given us the information that he was not guaranteeing that this building could take a category one hurricane.”
About 5% of the staff was on duty in Belize City. That accounted for 4 doctors and 24 nurses. Dr. Rosado says the KHMH is assisting the Corozal Town Hospital with human resources. The KHMH has sent 2 doctors, 5 nurses, and 2 attendants to relieve workers at the Corozal Hospital who have been Working non-stop because of the hurricane emergency. He says they are prepared to send more personnel if necessary.
