San Pedro Sula, Honduras
After months of uncertainty, after the change of government, the long-awaited trauma hospital of San Pedro Sula has regained momentum and its construction would begin at the end of 2026 or beginning of 2027.
This is what the doctor reported Juan Carlos Arguetadirector of the Mario Catarino Rivas hospital, who last week received a commission from the Ministry of Health that confirmed the continuity of the project, considered key to decongesting the main healthcare center in the northwestern area of the country.
Argueta indicated that the new authorities will resume the studies and design prepared in previous administrations, with the aim of advancing towards the bidding and execution stage of a work that, according to him, “will cease to be a model” and become a reality.
According to the director, the new hospital will have 120 beds, an intensive care unit, intermediate care, emergency, triage area, shock zone, radioimaging services and specialized operating rooms for trauma care.
The work, which will be built in the northeastern part of the Mario Rivas property, near the interchange, will also include a heliport, hospital support areas, warehouses, spaces for biomedical equipment and rooms for academic training, with the purpose of keeping medical personnel updated.
Argueta pointed out that the construction of this hospital represents an urgent need for San Pedro Sula and the northwest area, due to the increase in patients arriving with injuries caused by traffic accidents.
The specialist explained that trauma cases consume between 20% and 30% of the hospital’s annual budget, that is, between L341 and L511 million, considering that the budget assigned to the hospital this year is L1,705 million.
In turn, he explained that the hospital maintains 11 operating rooms in operation, but they are often limited, since these cases occupy 50% of surgical care, which limits the response capacity for other procedures.
“This has an impact on surgical delay. If we have a patient ready for outpatient surgery, for example, but a young person enters with serious injuries from an accident, the priority at that moment is to save the life of that person who is delicate,” he said.
An example of this pressure is reflected in the surgery emergency, where around 120 patients currently remain hospitalized, despite the fact that the area was designed to care for 50.
A promise from several governments
The construction of the trauma hospital has been a promise of several governments. In 2019 there was already talk of this project, but it was put on hold during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In 2023, Xiomara Castro’s government announced the construction of eight hospitals, including the San Pedro Sula trauma hospital, which would be financed with international cooperation funds and a complementary loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Initially it was reported that work would begin in April 2024, but this date was moved until the end of his term.
The latest progress was recorded in November 2025, when authorities from the Ministry of Health and Mario Rivas officially presented the model, reporting that the design and plans were ready, with the expectation of starting construction in 2026.
At that time it was reported that the complex would have two towers, a main one with a heliport and hospitalization area, and an annex building where the emergency, operating rooms, intensive care and administrative offices would operate.
However, progress towards international public bidding was slowed by the lack of municipal solvency, a necessary requirement to launch the process, because the institution had a tax debt since 2022, which amounted to L262,982.77.
Asked about this matter, Dr. Argueta, who took office at the end of March 2026, assured that the administrative processes have already been addressed and that work is currently underway on the tender for the oversight companies that will certify the proper development of the work.
More projects announced for Catarino
According to the specialist, the trauma hospital is part of a broader agenda of reorganization and strengthening of Mario Rivas. Among the projects they plan to carry out in the next three years is the creation of a day hospital, with three operating rooms to perform outpatient surgeries, with the aim of reducing surgical delays. This will be built in the area where the mobile hospital is currently located.
The authorities are also evaluating the development of a maternal and child project in the western sector of the hospital, to improve the care of mothers and children, free up spaces within the main tower and move towards a model in which Mario Catarino Rivas can increasingly concentrate on cases of greater complexity and medical specialties.
Argueta expressed that the current government seeks to improve hospital care in the northern part of the country and provide decent spaces, so another of the actions in progress is to paint the building, as well as address some areas that require improvements.
