$70,000 Worth of Medical Supplies Donated to Belize  

Today, up to seventy thousand dollars’ worth of medical supplies and equipment were donated to Belize by the Unites States government as part of the Humanitarian Assistance Program, supported by the Security Cooperation Office at the U.S. Embassy. This donation included various items such as mannequins for CPR training, vials for containing blood and defibrillators. Practitioners will undergo several training sessions to ensure that Belizean healthcare providers are informed on how to properly handle the equipment, as well as prepare for its use. News Five’s Britney Gordon stopped by the event earlier today to see the donation.

 

Britney Gordon, Reporting

Today, several boxes of medical supplies and equipment were handed over to Belize as part of the Humanitarian Assistance Program in the United States. This program seeks to alleviate poverty by providing food, shelter, safe drinking water, improved sanitation and hygiene, emergency healthcare services, child protection programs, and education to countries in need of aid. Michelle Kwan, U.S. Ambassador to Belize, spoke with us about the significance of this donation.

 

Michelle Kwan, U.S. Ambassador to Belize

“We are witnessing a donation made by the Humanitarian Assistance Program, supported by the Security Cooperation Office at the U.S. Embassy. this is donations to the Ministry of Health and Wellness, and it’s ensuring that we are providing essential goods medical devices, as you can see, from the babies to other things, from nurse caps to providing support to the Belizeans. The humanitarian assistance program, um, since 2021 has donated over five million U.S. Dollars to Belize. And today is, I have to say, one of my favorite programs because being able to provide these essential needs medical devices, you could see, you know, to me, I look to my right and there’s a baby, right? And it really helps People educate themselves on CPR for pediatric health, but these donations are so important.”

 

Doctor Francis Morey, Deputy Director of Hospital Services Allied Health, said that training practitioners on how to use the equipment will be the next step in this program and that healthcare providers from various parts of the country will be invited to participate.

 

Dr. Francis Morey, Deputy Director, Hospital Services Allied Health

“We have mannequins for training in pediatrics, neonatal care. We have mannequins for adult training. The U. S. government has donated this equipment as a follow up agreement that they had. They continue to support us in doing training. They do basic life support training for us, for our physicians and nurses. We have partnerships with other organizations that do training in emergency triage, basic emergency care. These equipment support what we need on the ground to train our physicians and nurses.”

 

Britney Gordon

“Where will these supplies and equipment be implemented?”

 

Dr. Francis Morey

“These are mostly for the regional and community hospitals. So when we do trainings, we invite physicians and nurses from everywhere, from all the district hospitals, the polyclinics the help post. For them to do, get up the basic training and come up to, to part out what is happening currently in the world.”

 

The donation included a variety of supplies, such as necessities and lifesaving equipment.

 

Dr. Francis Morey

“I believe there’s, we have some six pediatric mannequins, six adult mannequins, we have some, about three or four defibrillators, an EKG machine, cardiac monitors, and some other general stuff that we use for, while we do the trainings and for hospital care.”

 

Britney Gordon for News Five.