Fairfield, Conn. -- Nov. 20, 2008 -- GE, in partnership with the Honduran Ministry of Health, today announces that it is expanding its Developing Health GloballyTM program in Honduras from the original two hospitals to six facilities. This GE corporate citizenship program aims to improve access to quality healthcare in the developing world by addressing critical gaps in existing healthcare facilities.
Hospital Escuela in Tegucigalpa and Hospital Anibal Murillo Escobar in Olanchito, two newly completed hospitals, will be commissioned on Nov. 20 at 2 p.m. in Tegucigalpa and on Nov. 21 at 1:30 p.m. in Olanchito. Each commissioning marks the completion of the product installation and transfer of the updated public hospital back to the Ministry of Health.
"This is a incredible example of GE using its businesses' core competencies and the skills of its leaders to tackle the issues associated with healthcare delivery around the world," said Bob Corcoran, vice president of corporate citizenship at GE Corporation. "We hope that the solutions developed for these hospitals will have a lasting impact on patients, medical workers and the Honduran people. "
GE leaders attending the commissioning include Bob Corcoran, Vice President of Corporate Citizenship; Ricaurte Vasquez, GE National Executive, Honduras; Alfredo Arguello, General Manager of Sales, GE Healthcare; Margaret Lazo, Senior Vice President of Human Resources, NBC Universal; and Martha Poulter, Chief Information Officer, GE Commercial Finance.
"The Government of the Republic of Honduras, through the Ministry of Health, thanks GE for its support to the national hospital system," said Dr. Carlos R. Pineda Aguilar, Secretary of State in the Office of Health. "This alliance allows us to make a multi-million investment in medical equipment for the hospitals of Escuela in Tegucigalpa and Anibal Murillo Escobar in Olanchito, department of Yoro. GE is helping to provide good health to Hondurans and, especially, to the people in greatest demand of the health units. We reiterate our appreciation to GE for investing in the health of the Honduran people."
In addition to attendees from GE, leaders from the Honduran Ministry of Health and the U.S Ambassador to Honduras, Hugo Llorens, will be in attendance.
Last year, Hospital Enrique Aguilar Cerrato in La Esperanza and Hospital Juan Manuel Galvez in Gracias were commissioned. In early 2009, the final two hospitals, Hospital Santa Barbara in Santa Barbara and Hospital San Lorenzo in San Lorenzo, will be complete.
The Developing Health Globally program started in 2004 in Africa as a $20 million product donation investment. Since then, it has expanded to a $30 million investment in 14 countries throughout Africa, Latin America and Asia in addition to more than $8 million in GE Foundation grants to support girls' education, equipment training and health workers skill-building in the areas. The program offers solutions comprised of products from GE Water, Energy, Healthcare and Consumer and Industrial businesses. Each site has a GE employee ambassador assigned from the GE Hispanic Forum (GE's Hispanic-America employee networking association) to ensure that improvements are sustained.
About GE
GE is a diversified global infrastructure, finance and media company that is built to meet essential world needs. From energy, water, transportation and health to access to money and information, GE serves customers in more than 100 countries and employs more than 300,000 people worldwide. GE is Imagination at Work. For more information, visit the company's Web site at http://www.ge.com.
Frank Mantero