How are you, director? Good evening, Mr. President, Dr. Marvin Ailar, director of Rosales Hospital. It's a pleasure to welcome you to the new Rosales Hospital. Well, you know that on June 1st, it's tradition for the president to give a speech.
Of course. For the anniversary, in this case it's 7 years of government, but I thought it was better for the Salvadoran people, instead of hearing a speech, to hear from you what this new hospital for the people will have. And as we always say, the public should be better than the private, money is enough when no one steals. And what better speech than a great work like this?
Of course, Mr. President. We are in the emergency service, which is undoubtedly the center or the entry point of our hospital. Also, this is the largest hospital in the country, it is our tertiary level hospital, and therefore this work represents something wonderful for the population because they will be able to receive any type of care in this hospital, no matter how complex. Here we have everything from the most basic, like a general medicine consultation or wound suturing, to highly complex surgeries that are not performed in other hospitals in our country.
And this is also the largest hospital in the country, as you already mentioned, but now it's bigger.
It's bigger. There has been a considerable expansion in both infrastructure and services that we will provide. And now we will have services that historically have not been provided in any institution in the country, and now as a public institution we will be able to provide them, which is the best.
And I was told, well, this whole process of buying the equipment, the best equipment in the world, all the medications, hiring doctors, etc., we will be able to provide some services that are not even offered in private hospitals, in any hospital in Central America.
That's right. We have, for example, robotic surgery, a hybrid operating room, and services like bone marrow transplant, one of the most expensive in the private sector, but which are not provided here in the country. Patients who need these treatments travel to South American countries to receive them. Yes, I remember that even when someone needed a bone marrow transplant, what was usually done was a national fundraiser to pay for their treatment in Brazil or the United States or countries where they could get that treatment. Now we can do it here. And this represents hope for our population, for those suffering from these complex diseases, because we will be able to give them that treatment. This is a completely free hospital for the people, and any Salvadoran can come here.
That's right. An example of this is these areas, which are the maximum urgency areas, meaning those patients who come in critical condition due to an accident or a serious decompensated illness and require immediate stabilization, we will be able to treat them here.
So here there is surgery, we stabilize the patient and then transfer them to surgery if needed. This hospital, this emergency room, has historically been characterized by receiving complex patients from traffic accidents, which is very common in our country. So now, with all these conditions, we will guarantee timely care. Another thing I see, for example, is that the corners are lined with stainless steel, and the floors have that curve so that germs don't settle.
Yes, the floor is actually vinyl flooring that has material characteristics that prevent the accumulation of bacteria or any type of microorganism. And this curve is a sanitary curve that precisely prevents that and makes cleaning and disinfection of the areas easier. This is the observation area.
This is the observation area. It's huge.
It's very spacious. We have the capacity to treat 48 patients. These are the observation beds in the emergency room. So someone comes into the emergency room, they are treated, stabilized, and then, well, they are stable, but we say, we need to observe them to see if we move them to hospitalization, if we can discharge them, or what we are going to do with them.
We have them here in observation. Correct. That's right. But it's immense. I mean, I remember that it has nothing to do with the previous Rosales Hospital, there weren't even beds, right? But this is not just that we put beds, but even seeing the equipment above each bed, the monitors, each bed has its monitors.
Each bed has its equipment. We have vital signs monitors, we even have mechanical ventilators. If a patient were to complicate here, we stabilize and then transfer to the critical care area.
Yes. Before the pandemic in El Salvador, there were 26 mechanical ventilators. 26. And with the pandemic, with the El Salvador hospital, we brought it to 100. Yes. At that time here at Rosales, the doctors were famous for using plastic bags called ambu bags. Yes, with ambu. And so each doctor with one hand, with both hands, an ambu in each hand giving air to each patient. It was unthinkable now, right? Definitely that went against the patient's health, and now that won't happen because we have all the conditions to treat any type of patient we have here, whether complicated or not. An example of this is that all beds have their vital signs monitors, infusion pumps, perfusion pumps, everything you see behind has medical gases. That's another thing, there are no oxygen tanks.
No, no, there are no oxygen tanks because having oxygen cylinders also goes against patient safety. There is a great risk, and now having them all centrally supplied facilitates care and does not put us at risk. Also, we have monitors there that are the so-called nursing monitors.
Ah, those monitors, right? Not the big ones, the small ones on the wall. The patient just presses the button and automatically at the nursing station they identify which patient needs help. That's important because I've heard from the population, from the people who have used the hospital, that sometimes they call the doctors or call the nursing staff and no one comes.
That's right. And they say, 'I was calling, I was there bleeding and no one paid attention to me.' That is one of the most important things. We can have the best facilities in the world, the best equipment, the best equipment definitely, there is no better than this. The best supplies, the best medications, but there has to be empathy from the staff.
Of course. And that is part of the work philosophy as an institution. It's quality of care from the technical side, but also the human side, because that is what will differentiate us from all other institutions. Yes. Oh, how beautiful that area is.
Here, Mr. President, we are in one of our surgical centers. This area is very important because there was both a complete remodeling and an expansion. First, creating conditions. Those are the operating rooms. They are the operating rooms. Downstairs we saw that there were operating rooms, but emergency ones. These are the main operating rooms, so to speak.
That's right. This is for treating patients who have scheduled surgeries. Previously there were only six operating rooms, now we have nine. And beyond the quantity, it's the complete remodeling, creating adequate conditions that must exist in an operating room, because they are very specific. They look extremely modern.
Yes. And we also have the lamps, all the equipment that is there, the monitors, all the equipment is completely new. Nothing here has been used before.
Not a single table, not even a chair, a water cooler, a faucet, nothing, absolutely nothing from before is here. Everything is completely new, down to the instruments, the smallest forceps. There isn't a forceps, a scalpel, a pen from the old hospital here.
No, nothing. Absolutely everything is new and it looks impressive. Well, it looks futuristic. Yes, all the finishes are appropriate for a surgical space and all the equipment. There is no need to wait for another surgery to finish to bring equipment over and start with another patient.
Ah, that's another thing. Yes, there could be one piece of equipment and they move it around. The equipment, let's say, the new one, they move it from operating room to operating room. Here, no. Each operating room has everything.
Each operating room has everything required to treat any patient in the different specialties we have. And these are for washing hands. All personnel entering the operating room must first wash their hands here, using the correct techniques to enter.
Yes. All with sensors, without needing to touch anything. Exactly. How are you, doctor? This time we are joined by Dr. Gendia Maya.
Thank you very much, welcome. It's a pleasure for me to present the surgical center of the new Rosales Hospital. Follow me.
Thank you. This hospital, which for so many decades always treated patients with limitations, with difficulties in supplies and equipment, has now been transformed into a completely modern medical complex that has nothing to envy any private clinic in the country or the region. We have nine multifunctional operating rooms where surgeries of all medical specialties can be performed. All of them, we have all specialties. We have completely new equipment, for the brain, the heart, high complexity surgery, medium and low complexity. We have all three types of surgeries. All operating rooms are fully equipped.
This is like a microscope. It's a microscope for neurosurgery. We have several microscopes for various specialties. There are many, many pieces of equipment for different specialties to serve the population as best as possible. We are going to reduce those long waiting lists of our patients waiting for an appointment for surgery. But we don't stop there. Mr. President, I present our robotic operating room for robotic surgery. We have two robots. Follow me, please.
This is our robotic surgery room. We have two like this one. Right now I present the robot for general surgery and its other specialties. This will allow us to have greater millimeter precision when performing high complexity surgeries. It allows, of course, to make very small incisions in the patient. We have a simulator, it's like the patient is in that position, the surgeon sits at the console we have over there.
So the surgeon wouldn't be next to the patient but over there at the console.
Exactly. It's like remote surgery through the console.
The surgeon is at the console and the arms move automatically performing the surgery. So technically the surgeon could be in another room.
Of course. All the equipment works synchronously with the surgical team. Of course, there are also surgeons assisting the other surgeon because it's a whole team that performs the surgery, but technically it's the robot that does the surgery.
And the robot is those four arms. Yes, they are the four arms. All four can work at the same time.
How impressive. And all these monitors, because that one is the console where he is seeing the patient, so to speak, or the operation. Those are vital signs monitors. But what about these other monitors?
These monitors are connected to the console. It's so that the entire team can see the surgery simultaneously. Why? Because you need to use 3D glasses to see in the console. So he is there operating and the entire team follows the progress of the surgery simultaneously through the screens. We also have all our instruments completely new and completely available to perform any additional intervention that is required.
Well, I'm also going to show you the other robot because we have two different robots. One is for general surgery, urology, oncological surgery, gynecology. And this one we are going to see now is for orthopedic surgery and traumatology, where hip replacements, knee replacements, among others, can be performed. So this is our second robotic operating room that will allow us to better plan the surgeries to be performed on our patients. It works with a sensor that acts like a kind of GPS. It does a 3D planning on the monitor and helps the surgeon make more precise cuts and, of course, reduce complications of the surgery.
These are less complicated operations than the previous ones, or is the technique different? Because these are on joints, these are on knees, hips, and the robot over there is for surgeries we do in the abdomen or chest. So the complexity varies depending on the patient and the organ, but both are completely...
And in the other operating room, the other robot we saw a while ago, but for cancer even.
Yes, of course. It's for oncological surgery, specifically for very complex cases where conventional surgery would be very risky for the patient. With the robot, it decreases... Sometimes removing a tumor is very risky because it touches arteries and that kind of thing. Of course, the robot being more precise, millimeter by millimeter. So the cuts are absolutely fine, precise, and we reduce complications and the risk of patient death. So, Mr. President, I leave you here. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much, doctor.
Mr. President, this is a small sample of everything we now have in this hospital. This is providing quality care. There is a pharmacy, biohazard waste disposal, a lot of things we don't have time to see because we don't want to bore people with a 6-hour chain, but there are many things. These are complementary areas indispensable to guarantee care, like the medical supply warehouse. This is important because I remember in the past they couldn't do dialysis. I remember people complained, from the previous government of course, that they couldn't do dialysis because there was a kit, a little bag with some tubes, catheters, and some cotton. It was a kit that cost about $15, something like that, and they couldn't do dialysis because those kits were missing. And at that time I was mayor and I told them, 'I'll buy the kits, how many are there?' 1000 kits are $15,000. Why can't they buy them? But they didn't even have that, not even the most basic medical supply. Now, of course, we have all the supplies, from the most basic to the most complex for any type of procedure, both here and in the rest of the hospital areas.
Well, here we are heading to our central operating rooms, which is our hybrid operating room. It is the highest specialization we have in the hospital, in the country.
This operating room we are going to is the highest specialization, meaning the ones we just saw that were extremely modern are not the highest specialization.
No, no. These are much more specialized, with very complex equipment that will allow us... I thought I had seen the most technological.
No, no. Here, truly, this is not only the best in the hospital, but in the country and in Central America. Very few countries have this technology integrated in the same space, which is actually the most innovative, because it allows us to perform procedures and diagnostic studies in the same area, without needing to move the patient. Yes. So you don't have to take the patient out of the operating room, that's very important. I've seen it in the United States, you don't have to take the patient out of the OR, move them, do an image or a study, and then bring them back.
That's right. It's vital time for the patient. So here we integrate it. And again, doctor, hello again, how are you? Good evening.
Welcome to our surgical center, the third surgical center. Imagine that in this space we will be able to perform diagnosis and treatment at the same time, without taking the patient anywhere else.
Normally in almost all hospitals I've seen outside of one in the United States, all the imaging places are not for surgery, they are separate. And if you have to move the patient, you have to move them anesthetized to the imaging center to get the image and then return them to the OR.
That's correct. That increases the risk of complications and exposes the patient to many complications. So in our center, we don't have to take them out of the OR, we can simply transfer them on the same stretcher where we are operating them, we can transfer them to perform this image. Here we have our CT scan room. We have three CT scanners in our entire hospital. We have one in the emergency area, we have one in tower one, in the new tower, and of course we have the one in the hybrid OR. Here our state-of-the-art CT scanner will allow us to make better diagnoses, much sharper images, and we will also be able to perform interventional procedures. What does that mean? That if we want to enter an organ, take a sample, we can do it guided by this CT scanner that gives us such sharp images that simply through a small incision we take a sample of an organ that requires it, and the patient walks home.
And you can tell, just by looking at the equipment, that it's state-of-the-art, of course. And it can also be transferred from the OR. The patient is simply transferred here and the image is taken without increasing their risk of complications, all within the same complex. Now I'm going to show you the heart of our hybrid room, which is the advanced hemodynamics room. Wow, welcome.
It's very impressive, and even more impressive is that our equipment, the angiograph, is the only one of its kind in all of Central America. In this hemodynamics room we will be able to perform interventional procedures, as you can see there, we will be able to diagnose and treat at the same time. What does that mean? That we will be able to map the arteries of many organs: the heart, the brain, the liver, the kidney. And at the same time, if we detect that there is an obstruction in an artery, as we can see there, we can immediately perform an interventional treatment. So we can place a catheter right here, everything here. So we are doing the imaging study, the imaging study indicates there is an obstruction, and in the same place we do the treatment.
We do the treatment and we save the patient's life. We reduce care time and, of course, improve quality of life because care is faster, more effective, and of higher quality.
It looks like the latest thing. Definitely, right? This is at the forefront. This positions us as an incredible reference at the Central American level.
Yes, even in a developed country, in Europe, the United States, they can have the same, but this is the best model, right? This is the latest model of this type, and only we have it.
So in this hybrid room, in this hybrid OR complex, we have three imaging rooms and three operating rooms. This is where the highest complexity surgeries will be performed. Cardiovascular surgery will be performed. Sorry, doctor, when you showed me that first robot, I thought that was the latest technology we were going to see now.
No, we still have more technology.
So, I present one of our high complexity operating rooms. Here we will perform neurosurgery, cardiovascular surgery, and we will be able to carry out our great program, which is innovation in the country, in Central America: our transplant program.
But that's impressive. I mean, I've never seen an operating room like this, honestly.
This operating room is completely at the forefront of the first world. Let me give you an interesting fact: our microscope, there are only three in all of America, two in the United States and one that we have. So of the three on the American continent, two are in the United States and this is it. Yes. And here we will perform all neurointerventional surgeries. Brain surgeries will be possible. We also have the other two high complexity operating rooms where cardiovascular surgery will be performed and the transplant program will be carried out.
And just by looking at the type of screens and everything, it's all state-of-the-art, and the auxiliary equipment, monitors.
All of them. Yes, all these monitors are to help the surgeon improve surgery planning. We have a neuronavigator that will allow us, like a GPS, to scan the brain and detect and make better precision when extracting a tumor, when performing very complex surgeries. Yes. And it's worth remembering that this is a free public hospital for the people, right? Because one would think, well, a super high-end clinic in the United States, right? This is a public hospital.
We also have a 3 Tesla MRI, so that's our entire hybrid room integrated. So we have the MRI room, the three operating rooms, and the three imaging rooms.
Yes, we can see it, but we can't go past these bars.
Ah, I see. Why is that? Because of the electromagnetic field. Normally MRIs are 1.5 Tesla and this one is 3 Tesla. So when we see hospitals, clinics, what they have is 1.5 Tesla, and that's already advanced technology, right? And that in itself is an advanced MRI, but this is the most advanced 3 Tesla because it allows us to make much more precise images, better precision, much sharper images, and in less time. Normally an MRI took 2 hours, 3 hours. Here in 40, 50 minutes we can have sharp images with much better resolution, and we can detect much faster some, let's say, lesions, millimeter tumors that with other exams we couldn't detect. What a joy to give this to the people, because normally in other countries, those who have money can have something good, those who don't have money can't. And here in El Salvador, even having money, because these machines are not in any private hospital either. So someone with money in El Salvador cannot pay for this, they have to come here to Rosales.
Yes, thank you for this transformation. Thank you very much for making this possible. Have a good evening.
It makes me happy, truly, that we can give this to the people here. Well, this is the old area.
That's right. This is the historic part of our hospital.
Of course, of course. We restored it. I remember there were complaints from some people in the opposition who said, 'They are destroying the heritage.' And rather we have saved it because it was rotten.
I even knew that... Hello, architect, how are you? Nice to meet you, Mr. President.
We present the historic part, which has been completely restored and renovated. Really what was here, they sent the photographs and told me, 'This is what there is.' And there were many rotten ones, others eaten by, I imagine, time or rats or everything. It was completely deteriorated. So the internal part, the internal structure, in cases where it was wood, has been changed. The sheets that are originally from Belgium, more than 100 years old, have been restored.
But they have been restored, but they are the originals.
They are the originals, Mr. President. It's not that it doesn't appear, because I know they are the originals, but what was there before was rotten, ruined. It's a high-level restoration work. And I imagine that here in El Salvador there are no companies that restore this type of construction material because no one builds like that now.
That's correct. International personnel were brought in to restore all these sheets, the structure. What's more, these structures even had snakes inside them, according to the photographs. So we had to restore it no matter what. This is the chapel, right?
The truth is, seeing it like this, before it was sad to see. It was like a house of horror, really, but now seeing it so beautiful, illuminated, it even makes you want to learn more about the history.
Topics that interested us a lot were the conservation of culture. What does this hospital represent? So the work that has been done to restore it is great. We have four structures completely conserved and restored, which are the two main ones on the facade. On 25th Street we have the tower...
There are two, there are two like houses, right? Two buildings that are twin.
Uh-huh. They are on... I've seen them. Yes, correct. We have the clock tower, which is the main one, the one that says Hospital Rosales, with the clock. Yes, that one was completely restored. If you like, we can go over.
Yes. The foundations of the Clock Tower were restored, the internal part because it was really completely deteriorated. I also see that the railing has been restored. The gardens are new, I imagine, because this is beautiful.
The gardens are completely new, the railings were also restored and some are new to blend in with the environment.
Of course. To complete, perhaps.
That's right. And also the floor, these mosaics, this floor is old, right? They were completely restored to give it shine again.
Yes. So I see that all the railings also, I think to complete, but also all the columns, all the lights, the structures of the columns were completely restored. The railings are completely restored and new to give continuity and provide a historical enclosure to the central part of the hospital. The roofs were restored, the metal beams just like 100 years ago. The lights also, the bulb part is the only thing that has been changed, but the structure of the light fixture is original. One question, will this part be open to the public? Because normally hospitals are seen by patients, doctors, nursing staff, technical staff. But if someone from the population wants to come and see...
The garden area is completely public.
Ah, yes, it's completely public. The only thing that remains private is the part of the walkways that lead to the hospitalization area. The middle part is public.
This is one of the entrances, Mr. President, from the hospitalization pavilions to the gardens with the main view of the chapel, the frontal view of the chapel.
That's right, completely conserved. It has been restored. Well, I think it has never looked so beautiful because it also has architectural lighting that didn't exist 100 years ago.
That's right. Previously this was hidden in ruins, so it was restored and we have this view.
And there is the house with the clock tower.
That's right, restored almost from its foundations. Metal infrastructure completely restored, the sheets completely restored. The main rosette was also restored. Everything is restored, completely restored. Even the furniture has been restored, Mr. President.
The chapel is not so small. Here it has... Those steps are for the choirs. Restoring it was a real challenge because it was very deteriorated. And there are the towers.
The tower. This was the main building or entrance of the hospital when it was delivered in 1902. This was the main facade. From there came expansions, very organic growth. Yes, it was really very deteriorated, its foundations, the structural joints were completely non-existent due to oxidation, the passage of time.
Yes, I imagine that before there was no maintenance, zero, no one ever cared about this hospital. They never invested in it, and now thank God this could be done.
Correct. Yes, Mr. President, at this moment we are going to head to the intensive care unit, another very important area.
Architect, see you in a bit. Thank you.
This time, Dr. Sofía Vázquez will... Good evening, Mr. President. It's a pleasure to present the intensive care unit of the new Rosales Hospital. Each intensive care unit is fully equipped with new, high-quality equipment. We have machines to provide renal replacement therapy, which is a frequent epidemiological profile. Each ICU bed has its own dialysis machine. Here you will see eight, we have three varieties, and the NCU18 is specifically for this type of therapy. We have two others that can also be used for hemodialysis, but also have specific functions for plasmapheresis, for some types of autoimmune diseases like Guillain-Barré syndrome, systemic lupus erythematosus, which are this model.
Ah, of course. It's different. Now, normally ICU beds don't each have their own equipment, right? Before, in the old Rosales, they had two dialysis machines and no more. The rest was by service, they made contracts and didn't have their own machines available. Now that's one of the things that will benefit... And you can see the type of monitors, the type of equipment, everything looks...
Yes, the monitors are multiparameter because they give us greater precision in data, vital signs, and help us provide better management. One of the novelties that will have the greatest impact in the intensive care unit is the machine that will be used for non-dialyzable poisonings. There are poisoned patients who can be dialyzed, but there are other poisonings that cannot. For example, pesticides, which is important for our agricultural population. Another type of machine is the DX10, and it is the only one in the country at the moment. Now we will be able to respond to this type of...
So before, let's say, there was no way to treat that.
No, those that are non-dialyzable, there was no way anywhere in the country.
Nowhere in the country. Neither private nor public.
Now yes. There is now a response for this type of patient. Here on the first level we have capacity for 21 rooms, and on the second level we have capacity for 40, giving a total of... Here we are seeing, each one is also independent.
Yes, because they are for patients with isolation conditions, meaning they need to be alone to avoid infecting others, or they are immunocompromised and any infection can complicate their clinical picture.
Yes. A bacteria can take advantage of a depressed system. Here there are 21.
Exactly. Here there are 21. But on the second level we have intermediate care where they are not separated because the condition allows it, and also intensive care for other types of pathologies, and we have mechanical ventilators for each unit because a characteristic of an ICU patient is the necessary ventilatory support.
Of course, of course. Congratulations.
Thank you. Nice to meet you. Thank you very much.
This was part of what you mentioned in the area of... Yes. Before there was nothing. There was a doctor with two plastic bags. Yes. And now there are 61. There are a lot of areas, it's truly gigantic. I thought I would like to show everything, but obviously it would be too long, but the patients will get to know it. Each one will come to an area, go to another area, and in the end they will realize that what we are showing now is about 10%.
Yes, of course. The hospital is immense, and each patient will come to receive different things. For example, there is inhalation therapy, and there are a lot of things in there. That's right, but if we go to the therapy area, that's another 5 minutes.
How are you? How are you? Nice to meet you again.
Well. Mr. President, this is the transition between the historic part and the modern part of the hospital. You have already toured the historic part, where the hospital has been completely restored, renovated, everything is new. What was maintained are basically the things we wanted to keep for heritage.
And this is the connection to the new building.
This is precisely the connection, the walkway, so to speak.
Yes, the walkway that divides the outpatient consultation area. But here we are at floor level. It will go up gently, I imagine that's for stretchers.
Exactly for that. This has a slope of 7%, which is very little, as dictated by regulations, to allow transport of patients on stretchers or wheelchairs. It will only function to transfer patients. This is not public, these are only transitions. It is public, but only for hospitalization, not for people to come and see this.
Like the garden is, like the chapel is, like the historic building is.
That's right. This part is only to connect both buildings.
The new building looks very impressive from here with the connection of the walkway.
And well, the walkway itself has its charm too, it's beautiful, modern, glass.
And here you can see one of the houses. That is one of the historic houses on 25th Street that was completely restored. Here we are going to open a coffee shop next door.
Yes, that's right. So the general public can come and have a coffee, and it also serves because sometimes you go to see your relative or the doctors themselves working, and there is a hospital cafeteria, but that's how it is, but sometimes you want to eat some sweet bread or something.
Also in those buildings, we are implementing educational areas that Dr. Aguilar has kindly provided in this area. We are going to have the teaching part. We have more than 50 mannequins of different types, of different parts of the body, and we have conditioned all this to have a simulation room.
Where is that? In this first house?
In this first house they are going to do the simulations.
That's right. As practices to learn how to do it.
That's correct. It's part of the training of our new professionals. A teaching hospital, basically.
That's right. It's a teaching hospital. So, these spaces, in addition to preserving the historic, we are also going to integrate with the modern by having these simulation rooms.
And the coffee shop is in the other one.
That's right. And right here, Mr. President, you can see the transition from history to the modern.
Of course. The update. Although the other part, the history is like in the middle, right? Because we come from modern, then that historic part that turned out beautiful, and then here we go to modern again, although more modern because this building is built from scratch.
The infrastructure is from scratch. The specialties like electrical, hydraulic, architectural, all the finishes that have been integrated into the building are completely new, complying with all international regulations that correspond to a hospital. Here begins the completely new building that we built in front, completely new from the treatment plants, the oxygen generators that have been developed both in this stage and in the historic part, completely new.
Excellent. Thank you, architect.
A pleasure, Mr. President. Let's continue.
Nephrology, which is very important so that people understand it, basically kidney problems, especially kidney failure, that's right, because here in El Salvador the incidence of kidney failure is extremely high, especially because the rivers are contaminated too. There are crops that use pesticides and chemicals, and well, they burn sugarcane and they are destroying health, but unfortunately there is still a culture that we have to change, and well, there is the preventive part that we have to do, but there is this curative part.
Of course. That's right. And here we have our largest hemodialysis service within the hospital. Hello, doctor. It is an honor for me to welcome you to the new nephrology unit of the new Hospital Rosales.
Nice to meet you. Thank you. It looks incredible.
Specifically, we are in the hemodialysis service, one of the most critical services we have within the hospital. All these machines are new, modern, latest generation. It looks very different from the hemodialysis machines that are normally in public hospitals.
Correct, Mr. President. They are state-of-the-art machines. They are recent technology that has been on the market for less than a year. So, we have the latest technology.
So, there can't be anything better in the world, there can be something equal.
As we all know, El Salvador has one of the highest rates of chronic kidney disease in all of Latin America. So, we know the challenge we have ahead of us, that first God, the human capital we have, the technology we currently have, we are going to respond to that great challenge that we have ahead of us, sir.
There are a lot of dialysis machines. Actually, we currently have 140 machines.
How many were there before?
Previously they had 61 machines.
And not these. Somewhat obsolete previous technology, which served about 180 patients per day. With the new number of machines we have, we will provide care for 420 patients per day.
So, we are going from 180 to 420. And besides the number, which is exorbitantly larger, the quality of care is going to be much better because they are with state-of-the-art machines, state-of-the-art supplies, fully prepared human capital. We are ready to respond to the entire population. And a message I want to leave to all the Salvadoran people, let it be very clear. We are in a golden age of nephrology. We have never had so many scientific and technological advances, medications, and all that arsenal we have now, we have them here and now in the new Hospital Rosales.
I am sure that there is no private hospital in El Salvador with this type of machines, and even less with this quantity of machines, right?
Of course not. So, the care they will have here, in addition, the type of doctors, the type of staff, the supplies, as you mentioned, basically what is here for a nephrology patient, you won't find anywhere even if you pay. You will have all the current resources available in technology and medications. So, all those patients, our patients, rest assured that they will receive the best human treatment, dignified treatment, and with the best. It is important because before there were no facilities, no equipment, no supplies, not enough staff, nothing, but there was also a problem many times of empathy with patients, correct? And that is an issue that happens a lot in public hospitals in Latin America, not all, but it happens in many, and I think it is also important. Obviously, the capacity of the medical staff today is greater than before. The equipment is much better than before. The supplies, as you mentioned, are better. The medications have not only advanced in the world, but we have acquired them, because they could have advanced and we wouldn't have them.
But also the issue of human warmth, which in a hospital is vital.
Our care philosophy is patient-centered, not disease-centered. We focus our attention on the patient and that guarantees us much better results.
Excellent. Thank you, doctor.
Well, Mr. President, a pleasure and an honor.
