Model General District Hospital

The increase of the world population, resistance against antibiotics and pandemics make healthcare more important. To create a healthcare infrastructure in a country the WHO has developed a system which divides the public healthcare into different levels. The system is based on the General Practitioner (GP) for the first aid of a patient. When the GP is not sufficient equipped for the case a hospital is needed. This will be a model general district hospital nearby the area where a patient lives.

A District Health System based on Primary Health Care is a more or less self-contained segment of the National Health System. It comprises first and foremost a well-defined population, living within a clearly delineated administrative and geographical area whether urban or rural. It includes all institutions and individuals providing health care in the District, whether governmental, private or traditional. The District Health System, therefore, consist of a large variety of interrelated elements that contribute to health in homes, schools workplace and communities, trough the health and other sectors. It includes self-care and all health workers and facilities, up to and including the hospital at first referral level and appropriate laboratory, other diagnostic and logistic support services. Its component elements need to be well coordinated by an officer assigned to this function in order to draw together all these elements and institutions into a fully comprehensive range of promotive, preventive, curative and rehabilitative health activities.

The importance of this definition is found in the understanding that the district hospital cannot and shall not operate in isolation of the other health services and health service providers in the district. The district hospital is seen as synonymous with, first referral level hospital. The first referral level hospital is responsible for a district, i.e. a defined geographical area containing a defined population and fulfilling the following functions:

Support for other health services in the district. (Referral centre for first contact health facilities, supervision, training, participation in the District Health Management Team.

Delivery of hospital based services (diagnostic, therapeutic and institutional care).

A suitable approach towards a service concept depends on the specific characteristics of a hospital, a healthcare region or a healthcare system. The first step focuses on the creation of a model secondary healthcare treatment facility, in line with governmental laws and strategic healthcare planning for the upcoming years. The concept of this Model General District Hospital is part of de District Health System as defined by the WHO. Our solution fit with the definition of the WHO.

The model general district hospital should offer a broad service package for the inhabitants of its district based not on excluding medical disciplines, but based on patient severity, chronic diseases, etc. Define the scope of medical disciplines. First point to be addressed is a general understanding of the kind of specialism that will be included in the hospital. According to OECD4 Health Data the definition of specialisms is divided in medical specialist and other disciplines. Medical specialists are doctors who specialize in the diagnosis and not surgical treatment of physical disorders and diseases.

The assumptions of the model general district hospital are:

Adherence          :                              175.000 people

Beds                      :                              300 pcs.

Net Area              :                              17.000 m²