More than 500,000 Nicaraguans will benefit from the opening of the Chinandega Departmental Hospital
Among the novelties that the new infrastructure will offer are 27 specialties, modern surgical procedures, as well as examinations that were previously only performed at national reference hospitals.
Managua, February 3, 2022.- More than 500,000 Nicaraguans in the western part of the country will be able to receive quality medical attention in better conditions with the upcoming opening of the Dr. Mauricio Abdalah Hospital in Chinandega, built with the financial support of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) for an amount of US$51.87 million.
The new hospital will have the capacity to attend between 1,000 and 1,500 people daily for specialized medical consultations, surgeries, and laboratory services. In addition, due to its geographical location, it will cover the thirteen municipalities of Chinandega, including the most distant ones such as Cinco Pinos, San Pedro, and San Francisco.
"We are pleased to see the dream of thousands of Chinandega families materialize, who will have a first-world, inclusive and quality health service, with an infrastructure of 35,000 square meters of construction with the capacity to house 300 beds, 142 rooms, 8 operating rooms, 31 outpatient consultation rooms, 16-day hospital rooms and 18 dialysis rooms, among other facilities," said CABEI Executive President, Dr. Dante Mossi.
The new national reference hospital consists of seven buildings that will house all services and support areas: outpatient services, day hospital, hemodialysis, pharmacy, medical-surgical, pediatric, and gynecological-obstetrics hospitalization, emergencies, diagnostics, intensive care, neonatology, central equipment, and sterilization.
It will also have general services (kitchen, laundry, warehouses), administration and teaching, facilities building and waste center, thus complying with international standards.
It should be noted that since September 2021, functionality tests have been carried out with the participation of personnel from the areas where different specialties will be attended. These tests include the verification of the operation of the electrical system, hydro sanitary system, medical gases, voice, and data system, among others, and will continue to be carried out until the hospital meets all the necessary requirements.
One of the beneficiary patients, Liliam Medrano, from the municipality of El Realejo said: "It fills me with emotion to know that we do not have a hospital, we have a hotel where our heroes in white coats are going to fight for the satisfaction of our population. And the best thing is that it is free. We have state-of-the-art technology; many countries would like to have it. We have a trained staff and pay careful attention to the patient."
Another patient, José Antonio Salmerón, said: "It's like a dream come true, from the moment I walked in I felt something wonderful, we have a first-class service."
The Chinandega departmental hospital will have 27 medical surgical specialties. Among them, pediatric neurology -with coverage up to certain adult ages-, clinical oncology, surgical oncology and cardiology, services that were previously only offered in departments such as León or Managua.
Regarding this variety of medical services, the general director of the hospital center, Esmeralda Morales López, highlighted: "now it will be possible to perform high-level procedures, for example, interventional cardiology, urological procedures and bronchoscopy culture with imaging studies."
In addition, in order to attend to the main causes of death in the area and reduce surgical delays, there will be 200 medical specialists and the total equipment of the different areas. In this sense, the new human resources have been under permanent technical and scientific training. "We practically teach three to four courses per day in the different profiles, including theory, practice, knowledge, adaptation and operation of all the modern equipment. It includes teaching the hospital's maintenance team, nursing resources and we have incorporated hygiene, safety and cleaning teaching for all the cleaning personnel," explained Morales.
The correct training of the staff and the high level of care provided in the testing stage in some areas are reflected in the positive feedback from patients. "Sometimes a hospital means tears of suffering, but when we arrive here and see a staff that is taking care of us, we have another visualization and our mood is lifted knowing that we have a staff that supports us and takes care of us very well with a hug, with a smile, with quality and warm attention," Ms. Medrano emphasized.
More support to the health sector
In Nicaragua, in addition to supporting the construction of the Chinandega Hospital, CABEI is moving forward with the replacement of the Nuevo Amanecer Regional Hospital in the North Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN).
In previous years, it financed the construction of the Dr. Fernando Vélez Paiz Western General Hospital in Managua and the Dr. Alejandro Dávila Bolaños Military Hospital, both of which are now operational and have had a positive impact on 1,350,000 people.
Similarly, for the benefit of more than six million Nicaraguans, the multilateral is executing five projects aimed at the health sector with a total financing of US$331.6 million, including the implementation of the Vaccination Deployment Plan and COVID-19 care, as well as the construction and equipping of hospitals for pandemic care.
These projects in Nicaragua, a founding member of CABEI, are part of the Bank's efforts to guarantee basic services to the population, as outlined in its Human Development strategic axis.
