To all our friends,
Our HealthRays Project in Guatemala is on hold until the COVID pandemic subsides. The Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSPAS) is valiantly trying to minimize the effects with limited resources.
Our friends in HealthRays Guatemala are hoping to get the attention of the new Minister, Dr. Coma, to obtain his signature on a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that will cover sustainability issues we learned about since the first MOU. We understand the Minister has his hands full now.
Sustainability
Since small clinics do not have radiologists on their staffs, the eleven digital x-ray systems that we installed and the next eighteen to follow, were designed specifically to allow the transmission of images electronically to major hospitals. This is of enormous benefit to indigent patients that cannot travel to larger cities to avail themselves of radiology services.
It is obvious then the importance of Internet and cloud storage services, of maintenance and insurance agreements, to keep the x-rays systems operating optimally in a secure environment. The Rotary Foundation supports only sustainable projects. However, projects such as ours cannot supply continued financial coverage of expenses such as the ones named above. These expenses have to be covered by the government through the Ministry of Health.
With that in mind, and to correct an oversight on the original and subsequent Memorandums of Understanding, we are trying to present via our counterparts in HealthRays Guatemala, an updated version to the Minister of Health for his signature. Our Guatemalan Rotarian colleagues expect to facilitate signing of the updated document as soon as government officials can devote time away from fighting the pandemic.
We hope to resume fundraising and installations as soon as COVID is under control, and we have the new MOU.
Please stay alert to future developments!
