The Ministry of Health has installed a National Communication System at Baldy Beacon, Mountain Pine Ridge to enable communications during Public Health Emergencies and Disasters. This is the first time that the Ministry is establishing a national communications system to network with the Public Health Providers across the country.
The system, installed last week, includes a Digital Repeater, a Digital EOC Head and four VHF Mobile Radio Base Stations which will be distributed amongst the Ministry of Health headquarters in Belmopan and the Regional offices in Dangriga, Orange Walk Town and Belize City.
The most beneficial outcome of this installation will be the establishment and maintenance of sustained communications for the Ministry of Health during possible electricity downtime during disaster or emergencies. It will support real-time reporting and communication from incident site directly to the Emergency Operating Center and it will also allow for early response to incident sites by health providers. The Health Centers are already responding and this enhanced communications network will further improve that response.
According to Principal Public Health Officer, Mr. John Bodden, “This initiative is the first stage to equip primary health facilities to respond to public health emergencies and disasters. We anticipate starting work shortly on the second phase which will include San Pedro Town and Western Region.”
The System and training of staff is being made possible the through technical cooperation between the Ministry of Health and Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) at a cost of BZ$28,000. Technical support for the installation was done by Tenchtronics Communications Limited.
