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This project involves the purchase and installation of a digital x-ray system in the public clinic in Zone 11 so that diagnostic imaging services become part of the regular medical capability provided to the 50,000 to 100,000 poor people in this area of Guatemala. Guatemalan radiologists, for the most part, practice only in a major public hospital in Guatemala City and in their private clinics and offices so that their expertise mostly has been unavailable to the poor and rural residents of the country.
Because of the fully digital nature of the system to be installed with this project, images taken by trained operators at the Zone 11 public clinic will be analyzed very quickly by a radiologist in Guatemala City, who will provide information to the medical personnel at that local clinic to determine the best treatment for the patient. The government of Guatemala will assure that the clinic site is configured as required for the safe use of the x-ray system prior to its installation and will maintain it and provide trained operators going forward. The ability to have x-rays taken locally to identify and treat various diseases or to determine how to respond to a severe injury will allow area residents to receive necessary medical intervention without taking days, or even many hours, away from work or family in order to travel to the capital for critical x-ray imaging.
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