Commitee set up to monitor delayed construction of 83M hospital in Haïti

www.haitiantimes.com
By Juhakenson Blaise

PORT-AU-PRINCE — The Haitian government has set up a committee to monitor the ongoing construction of an $83 million building of the State University Hospital, commonly known as Hopital General, in this capital city.    

According to the project study, the construction is co-funded with $33 million from the Haitian government, $25 million from  the French Development Agency AFD and $25 million from the United State Agency for International Development-USAID .

Alex Larsen, secretary of Public Health and Population (MSPP), said the committee is being formed largely because of the various challenges, including security, that the country is going through. They’ve caused delays in completing the project, which broke ground in 2014 and was scheduled to take four years to finish.  

“The committee’s mandate is to work on the completion of the construction but also to assure that hospital medical staff and personnel are properly trained,” Larsen said.  “If we’re going to have a fresh new modern hospital, the staff must  be able to use the new equipment that will be available to them.” 

The French embassy said the 215,278-square-feet reconstruction project aims to establish a high-level multidisciplinary hospital and provide necessary equipment to function properly.

Together we will work to make “l’hopital general“, HUEH, one that offers better service to the public.

HANS LARSEN, PRESIDENT OF THE COMMITTEE

The hospital will have 534 beds and be self-sufficient in water and electricity. There will be space reserved for ambulatory care, an operation room, hospitalization and 300 parking spaces. 

“There’s a difference between organizing and pleasing, organizing is about allowing future generations to have better quality care than what we have today,” said Hans Larsen, president of the committee and the representative of the Primature. He called on the other members to carry out their task seriously.

“Together we will work to make l’hopital general, HUEH, one that offers better service to the public,” the president of the committee added. 

HUEH was damaged by the 2010 earthquake. Post-seismic studies revealed that repairs to the building were not feasible and recommended construction of a modern building that meets international health regulations, the secretary said.