Ethiopia – Status Update
In January 2008, the International division of Kissito Healthcare announced the go-ahead of its US$1.0 million Morris Cerullo Teaching Hospital & Medical University project in the Kamashi region of Ethiopia. The pre-feasibility work and Needs-Assessment of the health situation of Kamashi indicated a lack of basic healthcare services in the region. It also demonstrated limited access to existing health services and high prevalence of malaria, malnutrition, other communicable, non-communicable and waterborne diseases in the region. The results indicated low and inequitable coverage of basic health services and infrastructure in Kamashi. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed with the then Regional President of Beningshal-Gumuz region with the aim of providing comprehensive and integrated primary healthcare services and improving the health status of the people of Kamashi region, and to build capacity among the people of Kamashi by providing better education, training, and communication. Kamashi is a town of approximately 5,000 people and has a zonal population of over 70,000 people. Full-fledged construction of the hospital and Medical University started in June 2008 on 20 acres of land contributed by the Ethiopian Zonal Government. Funds required to build the hospital were provided by US based Morris Cerullo World Evangelism. Complying with the federal rules, Kissito Healthcare submitted its International NGO application at the Ethiopian Embassy in the United States earlier this year which is currently pending with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Federal Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) in Addis Ababa.
Unfortunately, the project experienced frustrating obstacles since its inception as Kamashi, one of the three zones in Benishangul-Gumuz region, has inadequate infrastructure and logistic constraints such as transportation and communication. Additionally, the zonal capital, Kamashi, is not easy to reach by road. The project experienced severe constraints time after time such as unavailability of building materials, cement and diesel fuel at any given price. The construction site is a 28-hour, round trip drive from the national capital of Addis Ababa, the only location where synthetic building materials can be reasonably purchased. Keeping in view the inaccessibility to the project site in Kamashi, it was decided to aggregate building materials on site along with the project planning simultaneously . A Practicing Professional Architect was contracted on June 18, 2008, and started working on the development of the project needs and space allocation program. During the second quarter of 2008, the aggregation of building materials on site became a full scale operation and Ethiopian employees were hired to oversee the project site. In June of 2008, the project team was supplemented by two additional members from the United States and later by an architect from the Philippines, for the overall project management in Kamashi. 120 large trucks of rock and 40 trucks of sand were purchased and the team started making cement blocks with an initial test batch of 126 blocks using different mixtures. The final architectural floor plans were completed in November 2008, and the final construction drawings were completed in January 2009. A substantial amount of building materials and construction equipment was aggregated on site. The actual construction was expected to commence late January 2009 while the project awaited government action on obtaining electricity, water, Letters of Support, Duty-Free importation licenses, International NGO status, and the final Construction and Operating Agreement.
Sadly, just as construction work was going full-fledge, the project suffered a huge setback in January 2009 when a new Proclamation Act was passed by the Ethiopian Parliament on January 6, 2009. The ongoing construction work was halted immediately at the request of the federal government and Kissito Healthcare submitted all the additional documents at the Ethiopian Embassy in February 2009 as required by the Charities and Societies Proclamation Act. As per the Proclamation Act, a separate ‘Charities & Societies Agency’ is to be formed to review all the pending applications. Since the time line for the formation of the Charities & Societies Agency has not been decided yet, further delay with the NGO approval and registration process is anticipated. Since then, numerous attempts have been made to meet up with the officials from the Ministries of Justice and Foreign Affairs to allow Kissito to recommence its project construction work while the application is being reviewed. No progress has been made since then .
Unlike the United States, the situation in a country like Ethiopia is very different and complex and the challenges are enormous. The unprecedented delay resulted in the return of the overseas volunteers to their home countries. Despite the rigors and enormous geographic, political and socioeconomic challenges of a major developmental project, the construction workforce achieved approximately 80,000 man-hours, a superb effort and a remarkable achievement.
Rob Turner, one of the senior members of the corporate management team at Kissito Healthcare will be in Ethiopia this month to expedite the registration process. He will be meeting several key officials at the ministries of justice and foreign affairs during his two week stay in Addis Ababa and exploring the alternatives to recommence the construction work at the earliest possible convenience.
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