World Bank President Jim Yong Kim Celebrates Hospital Construction
The white walls of l'Hôpital Universitaire de Mirebalais blazed in the hot sun Tuesday as crowds gathered for Partners In Health co-founder and World Bank President Jim Yong Kim’s visit to the newly built hospital.
Posted on Nov 8, 2012
The hospital grounds were filled with the residents of Mirebalais, local and national government officials, representatives of nongovernmental partner organizations, and staff of Zanmi Lasante, PIH's sister organization in Haiti. All were gathered for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the end of the hospital’s construction phase. The hospital will officially open the first part of next year.
Kim’s visit marked a return to the area in which he, Dr. Paul Farmer, and Ophelia Dahl began the work of Partners In Health years ago.
“In 1988 I came to the Central Plateau for the first time, and I met Père Lafontant,” he told a small group just before the ceremony. “In the middle of very little else that was going on, we saw this wonderful hospital [in Cange], and the question that we asked during that first visit was what do the people of the Central Plateau deserve? The constant refrain from all around us was ‘you have to lower your expectations. Haiti is a difficult country to work in; there’s only so much you can do.’”
The HUM radiology suite is fully equipped with state-of-the-art technology.
“I’m so proud to see that the government of Haiti, Zanmi Lasante, the community, and so many other people have answered the question by building this hospital,” he continued. “What the people of Haiti deserve is the best that we can possibly offer. As president of the World Bank Group, the lessons you have taught me—the people of the Central Plateau—will always be in my heart.”
Michel Joseph Martelly, president of the Republic of Haiti, addressed the crowd, along with Florence Guillaume, Haiti’s minister of health. They spoke in front of the hospital’s emergency room, on the driveway that ambulances will use to transport critically ill patients to HUM and then moved to the hospital’s front entrance for the ribbon-cutting.
“L'Hôpital Universitaire de Mirebalais will offer services that have no match anywhere else in Haiti,” said Dr. Pierre Paul, the hospital’s deputy director. “It is a practical example of the willingness to build something stronger and more sustainable—to build better.”
Further reading:
Mirebalais: Hospital construction complete—Drs. Maxi Raymonville and David Walton, physicians for PIH/Zanmi Lasante and members of the executive leadership team of Mirebalais National Teaching Hospital, give an update on the the hospital.
