The Office of Security Cooperation at the U.S. Embassy in Ecuador donated a mobile clinic valued at $105,000, to Imbabura province, as part of U.S. Southern Command’s Humanitarian Assistance Program. The clinic will support medical personnel and communities in the province.
“International collaboration between sister nations, such as the United States and Ecuador, is paramount in times of crisis. Today more than ever, we need solidarity, humanity, collaboration, and hope to overcome this pandemic. We know this medical unit will be essential to help the communities that need it most,” Debra Hevia, minister counselor of the U.S. Embassy in Ecuador, said.
International collaboration between sister nations, such as the United States and Ecuador, is paramount in times of crisis. Today more than ever, we need solidarity, humanity, collaboration, and hope to overcome this pandemic. We know this medical unit will be essential to help the communities that need it most,” Debra Hevia, minister counselor of the U.S. Embassy in Ecuador.
Moreover, the clinic is self-sufficient. It has a power generator that enables electricity, running water, and sewage systems to operate. It also has air conditioning, an air extractor, handwashing stations, functional furniture, and storage for medical supplies. The clinic’s design allows medical personnel to offer family care services, with cubicles for general medicine, dentistry, a lab, nursing, physiotherapy, health education, and preventive medicine.
“This is the result of the sensitivity of the American people to reach the sectors with the greatest need. This mobile clinic will be used to visit 36 rural parishes,” Pablo Jurado, Imbabura’s prefect, said.
The vehicle (mobile clinic), with which medical personnel will reach rural parishes such as Angochagua in the Ibarra canton, Sigsipamba in Pimampiro canton, Tumbabiro in Urcuquí canton, and Cuellaje in Cotacachi canton, was assembled by Varma Carrocería, a company in Ambato, to boost the productive sector and the economy in Ecuador.
U.S. Embassy donations to Ecuador during the COVID-19 pandemic total $34 million. The Office of Security Cooperation has been key in responding to the health crisis, with 22 projects under the Humanitarian Assistance Program, in addition to more than $1.2 million in aid to Ecuador.