Tonight, 7News has received a damning leaked report assessing the viability of the KHMH. As Jules Vasquez reports, it finds Belize's national referral hospital in critical condition:

Dated April 2024, the report is part of the CABEI Regional Health Intervention.

The very first line says: "In the first instance we can point out that the recommendations of PAHO/WHO are not being met, since the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital (KHMH) is not a ‘patient-friendly' hospital."

And it's downhill from there.

The CABEI consultants, an Argentinean architectural firm, visited the hospital for three days in March of 2024 and examined the interiors, the exteriors, and the physical layout. They documented everything in a 40-page report.

At the outset, the report states of the entire physical plant: "Its functional obsolescence is worrying, even more so is the physical obsolescence presented by the building. It does not pass any analysis."

Looking at the leaky roof, the assessors conclude: "uncontrolled leaks by the entire building, also showing incorrect slopes towards the drains, presented areas with signs of stagnant water."

And what about its hurricane resilience? They say, quote: "The current standard would be to design the building to withstand a CAT 5 hurricane event; according to the existing information it is calculated to withstand a Cat 1 hurricane."

The hospital's drainage concerned them greatly. They say: "this is the one with the worst state presented, since the drainage system is completely collapsed, in such a way that the excess of sewage produced by leaking pipes has resulted in the Supply and Processing building presenting compromised structures... not mentioning the source of pollution that this presents when the hospital's mezzanine is flooded with these waters."

And in the next paragraph, they note: "It can be seen from the outside of the building how there are leaks of sewage accumulated under the floor slab of ground floor, being especially serious this problem in the supply building where the general kitchen of the Hospital is located,"

The report also notes: "There is no fire detection system except for some detectors in specific areas. Fire hydrants and water jets are not operative. There is no adequate distribution of fire extinguishers," among many other fire response issues.

Looking at the electrical installation, they say, again: "it is an unfit facility, as it does not present protections for both the patient and the staff."

The many failings of Belize's national referral hospital are detailed in page after page, and after ranking all the features in a scoring matrix—where most of the scores were in the lowest category—they conclude: "According to the analysis above, it is inferred that the Hospital meets a score of 9.7 over the 30 it should have. That is, it complies with a 32.34% not even reaching the 50% that would be the minimum value to consider it with possibilities of being considered for a potential readapted."

They conclude, grimly: "Following a thorough analysis of the condition of the building, both at the functional level and at the maintenance and use level, and for the reasons mentioned in the present report... it is not the best option to undertake a comprehensive reform of the current building, but to redesign a new one according to the real demand and need of Belize, not by investing in a building that is not functional and has such significant deficiencies and general deficiencies that its reuse would only increase the operating cost of the building."

The long list of problems are detailed—not least of which is the conclusion that, quote: "Despite the implementation of improvements to the building, it will continue to be vulnerable to the risk of natural disasters, and clearly could not provide adequate assistance to the population at critical times in case of hurricanes above CAT1."

They urge the construction of a new hospital at an estimated cost of 70 million Belize dollars, as opposed to refitting the old one at an estimated cost of 86 million dollars.

It is a sobering and withering report, and there are experts who feel its conclusions are overstated for the purpose of funders who want to build a new hospital.

Minister of Health Kevin Bernard prefers to see the glass as half full:

Kevin Bernard, Minister of Health
"It's the first I'm hearing about that, but I know... I think the report from CABEI was done over a year or so, I'm not too sure if that's recent. I know that the feasibility studies that have been done... if you recall, KHMH is an old structure, there is of course need for KHMH to be upgraded. I know that there was discussion in the pipeline to look at possible... a new hospital to be built to provide secondary care services here in Belize City while KHMH may then be revamped just to focus on tertiary care. I'm not too sure in terms of the issue you raised there, but I'm pretty sure that while these defects may be identified, I know that KHMH continues to provide a very excellent service to the Belizean people despite the challenges. I can... you and you can just look at the recent surgery that was done on our Foreign Minister by professionals within the KHMH hospital, and so I think that despite these infrastructural issues, we need to look bigger than that. We need to look at the bigger picture in terms of what has been done, many services, how many support has been given, how many people lives have been saved at the KHMH. And so we know that many of our old health infrastructure, they need to be changed and at some point Karl Heusner hospital will need to be renovated and maybe a new facility built. Like I said, I haven't seen that report and so I would have to read the report to really know exactly what challenge. KHMH of course is managed by a board, it's a statutory body, and so those report would have gone to them and not myself."

And while he says he did not get the report, he does agree that after 32 years, government does have to start to look at a new building for the national referral hospital:

Kevin Bernard, Minister of Health
"I support that. We have been toying with the idea that we should be looking at the construction of a new secondary care facility for the Belize district, because as you know, KHMH right now is the only facility that is providing secondary care for government apart from our clinics Cleopatra and Matron Roberts who does primary care services. So KHMH is burdened with all the volume of patients who come for secondary and tertiary care, and including some primary care services. So we have to look at KHMH, we have to look at how we can repurpose. But at the same time, building a new hospital will take some time, but we have to have the long-term vision. And I think that one of that vision is for us to see the construction of a new hospital that will be able to provide secondary care, removing the burden from the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital Authority and then having them focus solely on tertiary care. And then maybe what can be done and the investments that need to go into KHMH will then be able to enhance and better more tertiary care services and more support services that can come through that hospital."

We'll have more on reaction to the report in tomorrow's news.