Hospital in Serabu, Sierra Leone

18.2.2008

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1004/08
by Gay Mitchell (PPE‑DE) , Nirj Deva (PPE‑DE) , Luisa Morgantini (GUE/NGL) and Kathy Sinnott (IND/DEM)
to the Commission

We are writing concerning a medical hospital that was built with EU funds in Serabu, Sierra Leone. The hospital was constructed in 2007. There appear to be two main issues that prevent the hospital from becoming operational.

Firstly, it appears that there are deficiencies in its construction, namely its location is less than desirable and it has significant design flaws. Will the Commission respond to this, explaining why a hospital with design flaws such as these was built with EU funds, and what is being done to rectify this?

Secondly, the eventual operation of the hospital is prevented as there appears to be no funding available to cover equipment costs and operational costs. The Commission appears to want the local Archdiocese to take control of the hospital and for State funding to be provided; from our understanding these two possibilities seem unlikely. The Commission built the hospital but did not develop budgets for equipment and annual operating costs. Will the Commission explain why this hospital was built without a comprehensive plan to ensure its operation and what is being done to resolve this?

A question on this matter was put to the Commission in the European Parliament's Development Committee on 17 December, 2007. The response as to the Commission's intent to make this hospital fully functional and operational was far from clear. It is in light of this and the lack of progress on the matter since that has led to this question.

OJ C 291, 13/11/2008