From November 11 to 19, the USNS Comfort Hospital Ship will be visiting Cartagena.
The governments of the United States and Colombia, through the Charge d’Affaires of the United States Embassy in Bogotá, Francisco L. Palmieri; the Minister of Defense, Iván Velásquez, and the Minister of Health and Social Protection, Carolina Corcho, announced it.
The visit of the Hospital Ship is part of a humanitarian mission between Colombia and the United States to provide treatment and medical assistance to vulnerable populations in Cartagena and surrounding areas.
The two places where medical care will be provided will be: the Ignacio Amador de la Peña Combat and Gymnastics Coliseum and the Antonia Santos Ethno-educational and Inclusive Institution.
“It is an honor to receive the humanitarian mission aboard the US Comfort. This is one more sign of the confidence of the Government of the United States in our administration. In addition to being a great opportunity for the entire beneficiary population, it allows us to continue strengthening the ties of cooperation between our governments, in order to carry out forceful actions to overcome poverty, adapt to climate change and city projects” , said Miguel Manga, office advisor for Cartagena International Cooperation.
Continuing Promise is the name that the United States Southern Command has established to provide medical care, humanitarian assistance, and civic support to communities in Latin America and the Caribbean on behalf of the American people.
With United States military personnel, forces from allied nations and volunteer civilian first responders on board, medical, surgical, orthopedic, ophthalmological, dermatological care, primary care, preventive medicine, dental treatment and public health education will be provided.
The programing
The director of Dadis, Johana Bueno, assured that “following a coordination exercise that has been carried out with the National Navy, university institutions, governmental and non-governmental institutions, in addition to different dependencies of the Mayor’s Office of Cartagena de Indias, Dadis leads the humanitarian attention that will be carried out from November 12 to 17, 2022”.
Primary care (November 13 to 17): medicine for adults, pediatric medicine, dentistry and optometry.
Two spaces will be available for primary care: Antonia Santos School and Combat Coliseum
Surgeries (November 12 to 17): general, urology, ophthalmology, plastic, orthopedics, oral maxillofacial, otorhinolaryngology, pediatrics and gynecology.
These procedures will be performed on board the hospital ship.
Health Care Sites:
For each medical care site, the following capacities will be available:
– Dentistry from 35 to 50 patients
– Optometry from 140 to 200 patients
– Medicine for Adults 105 to 150 patients
– Pediatric Medicine 70 to 100
Dadis specified: “This would be an approximate of 500 patients per day for each medical care site, for a total of 1,000 patients per day in the 2 medical care sites”, however, he noted that the figures are an approximate that may vary.
