Maputo, 11 Jul (AIM) - Work on building the Maputo Provincial Hospital, in the southern Mozambican city of Matola, is well advanced, and should be concluded in 2011.
Health Minister, Ivo Garrido, speaking to reporters in Matola on Saturday said that the original deadline for completing the hospital was April 2011. He admitted that the construction was running behind schedule, but was confident that the hospital would be completed in 2011.
Matola is the only one of the provincial capitals that does not already possess a provincial hospital. The result is increased pressure on hospitals in Maputo city, notably the Maputo Central Hospital and the Jose Macamo Hospital.
The Maputo Provincial Directorate of Health is now working to recruit staff for the new hospital. According to Health Director Cremilde Anli, public tenders have been launched to recruit 250 ancillary staff. Doctors and nurses, however, will be allocated to the hospital by the Ministry of Health.
When complete, the hospital will have 400 beds, three operating theatres, a laboratory, and a morgue. It will offer the full range of medical services to patients.
The hospital has a budget of $9.5 million - $7 million for construction, and $2.5 million for acquiring and assembling equipment.
The Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) has financed the hospital with a loan of $4 million, the OPEC fund has provided $5 million, and the Mozambique state itself is providing $500,000.
Anli said the new hospital will relieve the pressure on the Maputo City hospitals and will offer better care to the 1.2 million people living in Maputo province.
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11 July, 2010
