Ambitious U.S. hospital project in Afghanistan faces failure

By Jessica Donati and Mirwais Harooni KABUL (Reuters) - An ambitious U.S.-funded project to build hospitals in Afghanistan 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 $60 million project by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) started in 2008 and aimed to meet the medical needs of over two million Afghans by 2009. The biggest, 100-bed hospital in eastern Paktia province is unfinished and may never open, according to Reuters interviews with U.S. and Afghan officials. Paktia public health director Baz Mohammad Shirzad said even if completed, the new facility 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.



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