Loreto Medical Facility

We have created a special fund that focuses on the improvement of the medical services for the inhabitants of Loreto by supporting the creation of a state-of-the-art medical facility.

The relative isolation of Loreto has provided a difficult challenge for the provision of quality health care for its residents. This has been evidenced by the inability to recruit specialty physicians as well as by the lack of modern, sophisticated medical equipment. Currently, the level of medicine is that of a rural general practice. Eighteen family physicians are practicing in three different general practice clinics. The hospital, the Centro de Salud, is essentially a clinic with basic laboratory and imaging capability. There is no operating theatre or ICU. There is no blood bank, ultrasound, or CT scanner. Patients who require admission are stabilized then transferred by ground to the regional hospital in Constitucion (120km/2 ½ hours). The major referral hospital for the State is in La Paz, another 1 ½ hours south of Constitucion. Trauma care is a significant problem for residents and tourists. Loreto is situated on the trans-peninsular highway and vehicular traumas, as well as sport related accidents, are frequent. Delays in treatment for trauma, cardiac emergencies, and complications of pregnancy have resulted in increased morbidity and mortality for the patients. The need for improvements in the quality of medical care is immediate.

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The new state government, in anticipation of the increasing growth and economic importance of the Loreto region, has announced plans to build a new regional hospital in Loreto. This hospital will be the prototype in a new experiment for the Ministry of Health where private patients and those from the various major health insurance groups will all receive their care. In the current situation patients from each insurance group attend their 'own' clinic for medical care; thus in a small town like Loreto there would have to be 3 different hospitals (one for each insurance group) - an expensive, inefficient, and impossible situation. The new Loreto hospital will treat all comers and use physicians from each insurance group in one facility. In addition to the group of Family Physicians that now work in Loreto they are recruiting a Pediatrician, General Surgeon, Anesthetist and Technical Radiologist. They need equipment in these specialized areas. Their budget however is very limited. It will not be a regional hospital as we know in the US. They require basic imaging (ultrasound, and updates in regular radiology). They are unable to purchase a CT scanner as it is outside their budget capability. They also need monitoring equipment for the Operating Room and Emergency Department. There will not be an official ICU. I believe that the availability of quality and reliable equipment is the issue rather than age of the equipment.

The Loreto Bay Company (one of our benefactors) has made an $800,000 pledge to contribute to funding (apart from the Foundation) a new medical facility in Loreto. It made an initial deposit of $250,000, and is making $10,000 per month contributions to the Instituto de Servicios de Salud, BCS (the Baja California Sur state Health Services Institute). We at the Loreto Bay Foundation have created this parallel sub-fund called the Loreto Medical Facility Fund so that homebuyers and others could contribute cash or medical equipment for this worthy cause.

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