COVID & LICENSE UPDATE

On February 15, Guatemala and our surgical facility, Clinica Ezell, was hit by a 6.2 earthquake, resulting in damage to our facility. That damage, along with the necessary repairs, has created an additional delay as we address recent changes in Guatemala laws and regulations. Some regulations are only now being enforced, and others are being interpreted differently than in years past; all of this means Health Talents must pursue a change in licensing status.

Instead of a clinic providing medical, dental and occasional surgical care, we will now be licensed as a hospital even though we will continue our model of providing monthly surgical care and year-round medical and dental care.

We learned in January of 2022, that obtaining this license will require us to construct a bio-hazard waste containment building in addition to the sanitation treatment plant completed and post-surgical observation wing in late 2021. We broke ground on this building in early March.

Since we cannot provide surgical care without a license, even while we continue offering a level of mildly compromised care due to Covid-19, our Board of Directors has decided to use the remainder of 2022 to further remodel Clinica Ezell and Clinica Caris. As a result, all surgical trips for 2022 are on hold until we have our new license in hand.

While we may yet be able to host surgical teams in 2022, it is likely that it will now be 2023.

On a more positive note, we have been able to resume hosting mobile dental and medical teams.