by Charles Gladden

BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Dec. 5, 2024

On Tuesday, December 3, the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital (KHMH) announced that the new, state-of-the-art CT scan machine that it had acquired earlier this year was “temporarily out of service”.

Prior to its recent acquisition of the machine, the hospital had been without the critical equipment for almost a decade, and during that extended period patients had to seek CT scans from another medical facility and then return to the hospital after paying the hefty bill for the service.

The 128-slice cutting-edge piece of technology was delivered to the hospital at the end of February but began to malfunction recently.

In a statement released by the KHMH on Tuesday, the hospital explained that there was “a condensation issue that caused the communication between the hardware components to go down, requiring the replacement of a small part … the supplier has dispatched a specialized technician to Belize today to oversee the work and ensure the restoration of the machine. Arrangements have been made with nearby facilities to ensure the continuity of care for our patients requiring CT imaging.”

Chandra Cansino, the KHMH’s CEO, told Amandala on Wednesday, December 4, that the hospital technicians were working on the CT Scan and expected that it would be operational by the following day.

Amandala then confirmed today, Thursday, December 5, with Minister of Health, Hon. Kevin Bernard, that indeed, the CT Scan was once again functional as of Wednesday night.

He told local reporters that the KHMH has purchased two humidifiers to reduce the condensation in the room to prevent the issue from recurring.

An estimated 1,500 CT scans have been conducted since the CT scan machine was acquired earlier this year.