"Rising Haiti hospital a symbol of future"
Posted on Sep 13, 2010
“When a new teaching hospital opens in this central Haiti town a little over a year from now, it will be far more than a 320-bed, six operating room facility,” writes Jacqueline Charles, a reporter with The Miami Herald. “Local and international doctors say it will represent a towering example of post-earthquake recovery.”
The cornerstone laying for the new hospital, which is being built in a partnership with PIH, Zanmi Lasante (PIH's partner organization in Haiti), and the Haitian Ministry of Health, took place on September 10. The event brought together PIH staff, top officials from the Haitian government, and crowds of local residents.
“It's going to be a world-class hospital in the middle of central Haiti,'' says PIH co-founder Dr. Paul Farmer. Former US President Bill Clinton seconded Farmer’s comments, telling The Miami Herald, “Dr. Farmer's hospital ensures high quality training for more doctors and healthcare workers. It is an example of the significant opportunities that exist to help Haitians to build back better.”
The new facility, officially called The National Teaching Hospital in Mirebalais, is located 90 minutes north of quake-ravaged Port-au-Prince, in the country’s Central Plateau. Though the facility was in the planning stages long before the January 12 earthquake, plans for the hospital were significantly expanded in response to that disaster, at the request of Haiti's Ministry of Health.
