Improving CAT scans and emergency care at the Children's Hospital of Tamaulipas

Objective

The main objective is to provide the Hospital Infantil de Tamaulipas with complementary equipment for its computed axial tomography (CAT) scanner and for the emergency department, so that children can receive immediate care to undergo CAT studies with contrast media, as well as X-ray diagnostic imaging when they are admitted to the emergency area.

Beneficiaries

• Children at the Children's Hospital of Tamaulipas.
• Doctors at the Children's Hospital of Tamaulipas.
• Technicians at the Children's Hospital of Tamaulipas.

Global Grant monitoring and evaluation plan. Measurement criteria, with frequency and number of beneficiaries:

• Number of trained health professionals: 1 to 19 per year.
• Number of people reporting improved quality of health services: 50 to 99 per semester.
• Number of beneficiaries receiving preventive treatment: 100 to 499 per semester.
• Number of health facilities benefited: 1 to 19 per year.

Sustainability

The equipment will make it possible to perform 50 studies per week, more than 2,000 a year, saving a great deal of diagnostic time, discomfort for patients and their families, and the money spent on travel and on paying for studies at other hospitals or labs. The minimum cost per study outside the hospital is $150, which means savings of $300k a year plus travel costs.

• A maintenance service contract: the current CAT scanner already has a multi-year maintenance contract.
• A long-term technology upgrade plan.
• Continuous training for medical staff, including cascade training for residents and new residents.

The hospital administration commits to maintaining the operating budget for critical supplies and to submitting periodic reports on clinical indicators. It also commits to buying all the supplies needed to use the CAT scanner properly at all times, as stated in the commitment letter signed by the hospital's general management.

Parents will not have to wait long to learn their children's diagnosis.

The NGO Voluntad against Cancer (where some of the club's projects operate) and the parents will press the hospital to ensure the equipment is operated correctly.

The equipment will be operated and maintained by:

• Certified radiology technicians.
• Medical specialists.
• Trained emergency department staff.

The supplier will provide initial training and operating manuals. The hospital will take direct responsibility for preventive and corrective maintenance, following established protocols and scheduled maintenance reviews.

Partner organizations

• Hospital Infantil de Tamaulipas

Monitoring and evaluation

The hospital staff member in charge of administrative operations keeps records of pediatric patient admissions and of all diagnostic studies performed on each patient, and also manages equipment maintenance and training programs. If that person leaves the position, whoever takes over the hospital's administrative operations will be trained to carry out this work.

Implementation year

2026