Ambitious U.S. hospital project in Afghanistan faces failure

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Reuters, 5 March 2014

An ambitious US-funded, $60 million project to build hospitals has run into the ground, with the largest hospital ever planned in the country unlikely to open in full, U.S. and Afghan officials said. "The USAID project started in 2008 and aimed to meet the medical needs of over two million Afghans by 2009. Five years on, not one of the healthcare centres built under the project is open. The biggest, 100-bed hospital in Paktia province is unfinished and may never open, according to US and Afghan officials. Paktia public health director Baz Mohammad Shirzad said even if completed, it is far too big for the local authorities to handle because there were not enough doctors and other staff to operate such a big hospital."