Guinea-Bissau is a small country in West Africa with a population of 1.8 million people. The literacy rate of Guinea-Bissau is around 50%. The life expectancy in Guinea-Bissau is 59 years.
In the health sector, the government has made some reforms to improve the quality of care and reduce the incidence of maternal mortality, but much more needs to be done.
The health system in Guinea-Bissau is not very developed and there are only a few doctors and hospitals in this country.
The position of health in Guinea-Bissau in the world: It’s not ranked on WHO’s ranking list for world health systems because it doesn’t meet their criteria for inclusion on their list.
Top 20 Hospitals in Guinea-Bissau are:
1.Hospital Geral de Bissau:
Geral de Bissau is a hospital in Guinea-Bissau. It is located in the capital city of Bissau and it has a capacity of 200 beds.
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The Geral de Bissau hospital was founded on the 1st of December, 1962 by Portuguese colonizers. The hospital is run by the Ministry of Health, with help from international donors like the United Nations and European Union.
The Geral de Bissau Hospital has two buildings: one for adults and one for children. It also has an administrative building and a pharmacy.
It provides services such as general surgery, gynecology, obstetrics/gynecology, orthopedics/traumatology, pediatrics/neonatology, dermatology, otolaryngology and cardiology among others.
2.Hospital Nossa Senhora da Conceição:
Nossa Senhora da Conceição Hospital is a public hospital in Guinea-Bissau. It is located in the Bissau neighborhood of the city of Bissau. The hospital has 190 beds, and offers emergency services, surgical interventions, obstetrics, pediatrics, and laboratory services.
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The Nossa Senhora da Conceição Hospital was founded in 1957 by the Portuguese colonial administration to serve as a regional medical center for Guinea-Bissau. In 1961 it was closed due to lack of resources and reopened in 1975 by the National Liberation Front (FLN).
The hospital has 190 beds and offers emergency services, surgical interventions, obstetrics, pediatrics and laboratory services.
3.Hospital Militar de Bissau:
The hospital is located on the outskirts of Bissau, the capital city of Guinea-Bissau. It has a capacity of 200 beds and it is one of the few hospitals in Guinea-Bissau that provide 24/7 emergency services.
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The hospital has an outpatient department, a maternity ward and surgical wards that offer general surgery, orthopaedics and neurosurgery. The hospital also has an intensive care unit (ICU) with 6 beds and a laboratory.
The hospital does not have any specialized units such as cardiology or oncology; however, it can provide some treatments for these conditions.
4.Hospital Central de Bissau:
Central de Bissau is a hospital in Guinea-Bissau. It is located at the intersection of Avenida Amílcar Cabral and Avenida da Independência, in the capital city of Bissau.
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The hospital was established in 1887 as a small dispensary, with Portuguese physician Dr. António Sérgio as its first director. In 1897 it became a general hospital and was renamed Hospital Central de Bissau. The current building was erected from 1951 to 1955 and has an area of 11,000 square meters (120,000 sq ft).
Facilities: The hospital has an emergency unit for trauma cases, an intensive care unit for patients with severe diseases or injuries, a surgical unit for operations and other treatments, a maternity ward for expecting mothers and their newborns, an outpatient department with specialties in orthopaedics, neurology and psychiatry; it also has laboratory facilities with equipment to test blood samples
5.Hospital Geral de Gabu:
The Hospital Geral de Gabu is a medical institution located in the city of Bissau, Guinea-Bissau. It is a state-run hospital and it serves as one of the most important public hospitals in the country.
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The hospital has three different departments: Internal Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Pediatrics. It has a total of 24 beds, with 16 for adults and 8 for children.
There are two operating rooms with two surgeons each. The hospital also has an intensive care unit (ICU) with 8 beds.
The Hospital Geral de Gabu does not have any emergency room or CT scanner but it does have an ambulance that can take patients to other hospitals if needed.
6.Hospital Geral de Bafatá:
The hospital Geral de Bafatá is located in the city of Bafatá, Guinea-Bissau. The hospital was founded in 1963 and it has a capacity of 60 beds.
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The hospital Geral de Bafatá offers a range of health care services. It has outpatient and inpatient departments, including a maternity ward, pediatric ward and an emergency room. The hospital also has an intensive care unit and an operating theater that can accommodate up to four people at a time.
The services offered by the Geral de Bafatá include: surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, family medicine, internal medicine, orthopedics, ophthalmology and otolaryngology (ENT).
In addition to this the hospital also offers general medical consultations for all ages from children to elderly patients.
7.Hospital de Dona Estefania, Bissau:
The Hospital de Dona Estefania is a hospital located in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau. It was founded by the French in 1913 and is the oldest hospital in the country. The hospital has a capacity of 150 beds.
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The Hospital de Dona Estefania provides healthcare services to both locals and foreigners. The facility has a maternity ward, an outpatient clinic, an emergency room, an intensive care unit, operating rooms and a laboratory.
In 2017, the hospital had to close temporarily due to lack of funds but reopened later that year thanks to international donations from governments such as France and Portugal as well as NGOs like UNICEF.
The Hospital de Dona Estefania also houses the only blood bank in Guinea-Bissau which is available for locals or foreigners with rare blood types who need transfusions.
8.Hospital de Domingos Ramos, Bissau:
The Hospital de Domingos Ramos is a small hospital in the capital of Guinea-Bissau, Bissau. The hospital was founded in 1956 by the Portuguese and is named after the founder, Domingos Ramos. It has a capacity of 70 beds and it is staffed by around 100 people.
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The hospital has no emergency department, but it offers 24-hour services to patients with chronic diseases. It also has a maternity ward that can accommodate up to 20 mothers at any one time.
The Hospital de Domingos Ramos provides inpatient care for children and adults, as well as outpatient care to those who need follow-up treatments or consultations with specialists. The hospital also offers an important training centre for medical staff and students from Guinea-Bissau’s public health schools as well as from Portugal and other African countries that have sent medical students to study there.
9.Hospital da Amilcar Cabral:
The Hospital da Amilcar Cabral is a public hospital located in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau. It is the largest hospital in Bissau and offers a range of medical services.
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The hospital was built in the 1960s by the Portuguese colonial government as a general hospital and it was expanded in the 1970s with an eye clinic, maternity ward, laboratory and psychiatric ward. The building has 500 beds and employs around 300 people.
The Hospital da Amilcar Cabral offers general medical services such as dentistry, gynaecology, ophthalmology and psychiatry. It also has a maternity ward that can provide incubators for newborns as well as freezer facilities for storing human organs or tissue samples.
10.Hospital da Guine-Bissau:
Guinea-Bissau, a country in West Africa, is the second smallest country on the continent. It has a population of 1.5 million people and its capital city is Bissau. The country gained independence from Portugal in 1974 and it has been struggling to develop economically since then.
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The healthcare system in Guinea-Bissau is not fully developed. The government does not provide free healthcare for all citizens as it should be according to World Health Organization standards. There are only 50 hospitals and clinics in the whole country with only 10 of them being public ones.
11.Hospital Nacional de Bissau:
The hospital is located in the center of the city, and it has an emergency room, a laboratory, a maternity ward, and many other units.
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The hospital has a pharmacy, as well as an outpatient department for medical care.
It also has an operating theatre for surgery, and there are two wards for patients with infectious diseases.
The hospital is staffed with doctors who are specialists in general medicine and surgery.
Doctors are also trained in obstetrics and pediatrics.
There are nurses on staff to help patients during their stay at the hospital.
There is also a pharmacy on site to dispense medicines to patients while they’re staying at the hospital or after they’ve left the hospital.
12.Hospital Psiquiátrico de Bambadinca:
The Bambadinca Psychiatric Hospital is a public hospital that was built in the 1970s. It has a total of six buildings, four of which are in use. The hospital is located on the outskirts of Bissau, the capital city.
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The hospital was originally built to accommodate 250 patients but currently only houses 96 patients. The hospital has very limited facilities and staff, with only one doctor and two nurses per shift.
The conditions at the hospital are poor with many patients being housed in overcrowded rooms with no natural light and little ventilation as well as having to share beds with other patients. There is no hot water or electricity and limited food supplies for patients who cannot pay for their own food.
This essay will explore how these facilities affect the treatment of psychiatric patients at this facility, what causes some of these problems, and how they can be addressed to improve treatment for these patients in the future.
13.Hospital Lusíadas:
The Hospital Lusíadas is situated in the city of Bissau, Guinea-Bissau. It is located on Avenida Amilcar Cabral, and its coordinates are 2°25’31″N, 13°6’33″W. The hospital has a capacity of 250 beds and offers a variety of medical services to Guinea-Bissau’s population.
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Hospital Lusíadas was founded in 1983 by the Portuguese government with the help of the World Health Organization. The hospital was built on an area that used to be an agricultural field. In 1993 it was donated to the Guinean government and became one of the most important hospitals in Guinea-Bissau.
The hospital offers medical services for all types of patients including emergency care, maternity care, pediatric care and chronic diseases management among others.
In addition to providing medical services for patients, it also provides training for health professionals such as nurses and technicians who
14.Hospital da Mulher Bembe:
In Guinea-Bissau, the hospital da Mulher Bembe is one of the largest hospitals for women and children. It is located in the capital city of Bissau. The hospital has a maternity ward, an obstetrician department, an operating theatre and a laboratory.
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The new maternity ward at Hospital da Mulher Bembe was built with funding from UNFPA and the Government of Canada. It is equipped with four delivery rooms, two labour wards and three post-partum wards. The new facility also includes an operating theatre with three beds, two bathrooms for patients and a laboratory for testing blood and urine samples.
15.Hospital da Mulher:
This hospital was built in the 1970s and had a maternity ward, an outpatient department, a surgery room and an emergency room.
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The hospital is located in the heart of Bissau, the capital city of Guinea-Bissau.
It is surrounded by residential buildings and has a capacity of 40 beds.
The hospital’s facilities include an operating theater, a laboratory and x-ray facilities.
The hospital has been renovated recently to improve its standards of care. The maternity ward now includes three delivery rooms which are equipped with modern equipment such as incubators for babies. The pediatric department has also been renovated to provide better care for children under five years old.
16.Hospital Nossa Senhora da Conceição:
Nossa Senhora da Conceição Hospital is a hospital in Guinea-Bissau. It is located at the center of the country, in Bissau. The hospital has a capacity of 300 beds, and it serves as the primary referral center for patients from other hospitals.
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The hospital is equipped with modern medical equipment and offers specialized services in different fields of medicine, including cardiology, nephrology, gastroenterology and neurology.
It also has an intensive care unit that provides 24-hour emergency services to patients with severe cases.
The hospital also offers gynecological services to women who are pregnant or have just given birth.
In addition to providing medical care for patients, Nossa Senhora da Conceição Hospital trains new doctors who want to specialize in various fields of medicine.
17.Hospital Nossa Senhora da Luz:
Nossa Senhora da Luz Hospital is situated in the city of Bissau, Guinea-Bissau. The hospital has a total of 168 beds and provides emergency care, surgery and inpatient services.
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The hospital was founded in 1961 by the Portuguese Jesuits with the name Hospital de Nossa Senhora da Luz. It was originally an infirmary for the Jesuit residence but became a hospital when it had to provide emergency care for victims of an earthquake. The hospital was renamed to its current name after independence from Portugal in 1974.
In addition to providing medical services, Nossa Senhora da Luz Hospital also offers education programs for nurses and doctors as well as community outreach programs that focus on prevention and awareness campaigns on HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and other diseases.
The hospital has 168 beds and provides emergency care, surgery and inpatient services.
18.Hospital São Francisco Xavier:
This article is about the history, location and facilities of Hospital São Francisco Xavier in Guinea-Bissau.
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The hospital was founded in 1659 by the Portuguese colonialists, who had arrived in Bissau a year earlier. The hospital was originally called “Hospital de Nossa Senhora da Boa Morte” or “Hospital da Misericórdia”. It is one of the oldest hospitals in West Africa.
The hospital was built to provide medical care for sailors, soldiers and merchants from Europe and Africa who traveled to Bissau from Portugal. In subsequent years, it has also provided care for locals too. The hospital has undergone major renovations over the years to keep up with changing technology and new equipment requirements. It now has a total of 250 beds and offers a range of medical services including general medicine, surgery, obstetrics, pediatrics and psychiatry.
19.Hospital Amílcar Cabral:
The Amílcar Cabral hospital is one of the biggest hospitals in Guinea-Bissau. It has a capacity of 350 beds, and it provides a wide range of medical services. The hospital was built in the late 1960s to meet the needs for medical care for people living in this region.
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The hospital is located on the outskirts of Bissau, near the international airport, and it has a large campus with several buildings where different departments are located. The most important building is the main building, which houses the emergency department, surgery department and intensive care unit. There is also an outpatients clinic that provides basic medical services to patients who don’t need to stay overnight.
20.Hospital Pediátrico Mansour Issa Toure:
The hospital is located in the capital city of Guinea-Bissau, Bissau.
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The Pediatric Hospital has a capacity for 16 beds, but only 8 beds were operational as of July 2017.
The hospital is staffed by one doctor and two nurses.
There are two wards at the hospital: the pediatric ward and the maternity ward. The maternity ward has 8 beds, while the pediatric ward has 6 beds.
There are no operating theatres in this hospital, and it does not have a blood bank or an intensive care unit.
The Pediatric Hospital offers free medical care to children up to age 5, who do not have any other form of health insurance coverage.
References:
1.Wikipedia Contributors. (2022, March 7). List of hospitals in Guinea-Bissau. Retrieved January 1, 2023, from Wikipedia website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_hospitals_in_Guinea-Bissau
2.Public health and Covid-19 in Guinea-Bissau. (2023). Retrieved January 1, 2023, from Worlddata.info website: https://www.worlddata.info/africa/guinea-bissau/health.php
3.Guardian staff reporter. (2021, March 31). Death without answers: an agonising 24-hour hunt for medical help in Guinea-Bissau. Retrieved January 1, 2023, from the Guardian website: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/mar/31/death-without-answers-an-agonising-24-hour-hunt-for-medical-help-in-guinea-bissau
4.Bjerregaard-Andersen, M., Lund, N., Pinstrup Joergensen, A. S., Starup Jepsen, F., Werner Unger, H., Mane, M., … Stabell Benn, C. (2018). Stillbirths in urban Guinea-Bissau: A hospital- and community-based study. PLOS ONE, 13(5), e0197680. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0197680
5.Guinea-Bissau – Traveler view | Travelers’ Health | CDC. (2022). Retrieved January 1, 2023, from Cdc.gov website: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/traveler/none/guinea-bissau
6. Guinea-Bissau – Traveler view | Travelers’ Health | CDC. (2022). Retrieved January 1, 2023, from Cdc.gov website: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/traveler/none/guinea-bissau
7.Continuing vital health services in Guinea-Bissau during COVID-19 – Guinea-Bissau. (2020, September). Retrieved January 1, 2023, from ReliefWeb website: https://reliefweb.int/report/guinea-bissau/continuing-vital-health-services-guinea-bissau-during-covid-19
8.Alimoglu, O. (2016). Rural surgery in Guinea Bissau: an experience of Doctors Worldwide Turkey. Northern Clinics of Istanbul. https://doi.org/10.14744/nci.2015.10327
9.Global Affairs Canada. (2022). Travel advice and advisories for Guinea-Bissau. Retrieved January 1, 2023, from Travel.gc.ca website: https://travel.gc.ca/destinations/guinea-bissau?wbdisable=true
10.Strikes paralyse hospitals in Guinea-Bissau | Macau Business. (2021, September 22). Retrieved January 1, 2023, from Macau Business website: https://www.macaubusiness.com/strikes-paralyse-hospitals-in-guinea-bissau/
Contents
2.Hospital Nossa Senhora da Conceição:
7.Hospital de Dona Estefania, Bissau:
8.Hospital de Domingos Ramos, Bissau:
11.Hospital Nacional de Bissau:
12.Hospital Psiquiátrico de Bambadinca:
16.Hospital Nossa Senhora da Conceição:
17.Hospital Nossa Senhora da Luz: