MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Expansion to Armed Forces hospital

The second stage of the expansion of the Chilean Armed Forces hospital in Punta Arenas involving 4,5 million US dollars will be ready by January 2003.

According to Prensa Austral the new four floors building will hold 60 rooms with a total area of 5,800 square meters. The second stage includes finishing all wards and a new paediatric and maternity sections.

The third stage will cover support service areas of the hospital such as medics' residence, kitchen, staff quarters and a remodelling of Emergency. The whole three stage reform will demand 11 million US dollars.

"The new hospital basically will have the same services as before, but improved, plus an Intensive Care Unit", said Captain Rodrigo Gregorio, Armed Forces Hospital Director. Captain Gregorio recalled that the hospital is open to the community through different institutional agreements, plus the fact "that emergency care is compulsory in all Chilean hospitals".

In related news, Mr. Eugenio Heiremans Despouy, considered one of Chile's outstanding businessmen recently visited Punta Arenas and anticipated that the consortium he manages will be making a considerable investment in Clínica Magallanes, one of his group's main assets in the Punta Arenas area.