ARTICLE - MARTELLY - MIREBALAIS HOSPITAL

PRESIDENT MARTELLY IN MIREBALAIS TO SEE THE PROGRESS OF WORK ON THE UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL

President Michel Martelly, accompanied, among others, by Mrs. Florence D. Guillaume, Minister of Public Health and Population and of Senator Edmonde Supplice Beauzile (Center), conducted ... a visit to Mirebalais where he assessed the progress of construction work of the University Hospital for that city.

At a cost estimated at $16 million, the University Hospital of Mirebalais, will accommodate over 500 patients per day with a total of 324 beds, of which 20 are consultation rooms in outpatient clinics, 6 operating rooms, and a space to receive and train 140 students and resident physicians. Minister Florence D. Guillaume stated that this modern hospital is the result of a public/private partnership. Property of the Haitian State, since the land on which it is built (16,725 m2) and the equipment which is provided, this hospital will be managed jointly by Partners In Health/Zanmi Lasante (PIH/ZL) and the Ministry of Public Health and Population. It will operate on the principle of free health care, and in strict compliance with the Minimum Package of Services.

President Martelly congratulated the responsibles of Zanmi Lasante and other partners who have contributed to the achievement of such a project, and reiterated his commitment to provide services of free health care of quality and to the benefit of all Haitians indiscriminately... "Decentralization must be effective everywhere," remains convinced President Martelly, who plans to work on the structuring and the modernization of health facilities throughout the ten departments of the country. He said he was ready to initiate discussions with relevant authorities to consider a fund that could allow the construction of at least one modern hospital in every department of the country during his tenure.

Present during the visit of the Head of State: Cuban Ambassador to Haiti, Ricardo Garcia, personalities like Dr. Paul Farmer, the Reverend Father Fritz Lafontant, Dr. Max Raymonville and Dr. David Walton, all members of the Executive Directory of the NGO Zanmi Lasante, the Deputy for the constituency of Mirebalais/Boucan-Carré and the President of the Health Commission in the Lower House, Sinal Bertrand, the Departmental Delegate and the Mayor of Mirebalais, Jean Rodney Amboise.