Dire Dawa Hospital to Launch Renovations

Addis Fortune
Wudineh Zenebe
Addis Ababa
Monday, Sept 24, 2007

Dil Chora, the only hospital administered by the city in Dire Dawa, is to launch an expansion project for 60 million Br. Based on an agreement the city made with a Chinese city, 30pc of the project cost is expected to be covered by the government of China. The provisional administration has, therefore, been busy negotiating with the Chinese Embassy.

If the Chinese agree with the pending negotiation to finance 30pc of the total cost, the project will be given to a Chinese contractor.

"Should the negotiation fail, a tender will be floated to hire a local contractor," Tsigereda Kifle (MD), head of the Dire Dawa Health Bureau, told Fortune.

Established in 1938 at the centre of the city in front of Ras Hotel, the hospital, which lies on a 4,000sqm plot, gives over 50pc of its services to patients coming from Somali and Oromia regions.

Part of the 244-room building is dilapidated and needs rehabilitation while another six blocks with five-storeys would be constructed according to the project.

"Upon completion, the number of beds available is expected to increase threefold and the hospital would become specialised," Tsigereda disclosed.

Dil Chora rendered a substantial volume of services last year to victims of the flood that struck the area causing massive human and property loss. The town is still recovering.

"Though the allocated budget can construct a new hospital, the location and obsolescence of Dil Chora has convinced us to upgrade it," Abdulaziz Mohammed, mayor of the Dire Dawa provisional administration, told Fortune.

Dire Dawa has grown by leaps and bounds in the past 100 years to its current population of over 100,000.

Source: Addis Fortune, Sept 25, 2007