Dutch fund Jaffna hospital renovation

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 September 1998, 19:39 GMT]
The Government of Netherlands has agreed this week to spend Rs. 30 million (Sri Lankan) to renovate the Jaffna hospital, said medical sources in Jaffna today.

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) will implement the renovation and training project that the Netherlands Government is funding, the sources said.

The UNDP finalised details of the project implementation with the Sri Lanka Health Ministry last week in Colombo. The Jaffna hospital, one of the largest provincial hospitals in the island, has functioned in the midst of war since 1985. Many parts of the hospital were either damaged in the fighting or were in disrepair. There is a severe shortage of staff and equipment. Most wards and the doctors' quarters are damaged.

The SL government did little, after it brought Jaffna under its control, in the way of major repairs on the hospital, the sources said.

The Dutch grant will help put the hospital on its former footing, the sources added. The staff training and new equipment promised under the project will be especially useful they said. The Dutch Ambassador to Sri Lanka visited the Jaffna hospital two months ago in connection with the project.

The UNDP is expected to begin work soon as most of the red tape has been cleared said hospital sources today.