Construction of the new 1.2-billion-peso (US $64.9-million) General Hospital of Culiacán, Sinaloa, will begin by mid-August, Governor Quirino Díaz Coppel announced yesterday at the site of the new facility, a 78,000-square-meter piece of land on the highway between the state capital and the town of Imala.

The bidding process on the project began yesterday.

“This is very good news for all the people of Sinaloa because this is an important public works project,” the governor said.

The project is expected to be completed in about seven months, Díaz said, allowing the hospital to open its doors next March.

Of the total price tag, 671 million pesos will go towards the construction of the 25,000-square-meter building, while the remaining 565 million will be spent on equipping it.

The 120-bed hospital will have 46 specialty consultation rooms, a general consultancy area and three emergency wards.

The facility will have nine operating rooms, two of which are to be used exclusively for transplants, while another will be used to perform neurosurgery and other specialized procedures.

New medical equipment will include X-ray, MRI, tomography, fluoroscopy, a dialysis unit and blood bank.

A parking lot for 1,000 vehicles, along with an area dedicated for ambulances, round up the plan for the new hospital.

Díaz announced the construction of the facility three months ago during a visit to the existing general hospital, when he observed that the building had deteriorated and most of the equipment was obsolete.

Source: Milenio (sp)