The construction and equipping of a military hospital in the west-Nicaraguan city was completed in 2015, with financial help from the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (BCIE) and the Governments of Mexico and Nicaragua.

UNOPS provided a range of support services, including advisory services on the loan agreement with BCIE, managing the bids for construction works and ensuring that the hospital was well equipped for operations. UNOPS recommendations also resulted in significant savings for the work, and reductions in annual operational costs for the hospital.

The new 476-bed facility offers a comprehensive range of services for Nicaraguans, including paediatric and neonatal intensive care, obstetric care, surgery and others. The hospital hosts the country’s first intelligent operating room, which facilitates medical consultations with other national and international hospitals through video-conferencing. Doctors can also transmit live training sessions to Nicaraguan medical students, strengthening the hospital’s teaching capacity.

With modern software systems, all records and hospital documentation will be electronic, improving the efficiency and speed of operations. The system, the first of its kind in a Nicaraguan hospital, will completely eliminate the use of paper for daily procedures.

A statistical projections and financial calculations tool was designed at the request of the Military Medical Corp to support the financial management and sustainability of the project. Furthermore, a detailed review of technical specifications conducted by UNOPS during the bidding process for construction helped reduce related costs by over 34 percent, without compromising the quality of the building.

UNOPS is currently delivering over $6 million of active peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects on behalf of partners in Nicaragua.