Stalled polyclinic opening strains services in Wadi Etba
LIBYA – Mohamed Saleh Al-Mahdi, a notable from Aqar in Wadi Etba, has said the area’s polyclinic has remained out of service for four years because of administrative and contracting procedures and delays in releasing budgets, depriving residents of basic health services and forcing them to travel for treatment.
Funding, contractor and health ministry obstacles
In comments to Libya Al-Ahrar TV, which broadcasts from Turkey — followed and summarised by Al-Marsad — Al-Mahdi said information received by residents and the local committee while following up the case with the municipal council, the neighbourhood mukhtar and local notables pointed to routine and contracting procedures, particularly over funding, as well as disputes or problems between the contractors, the contracting parties and the Ministry of Health, which had commissioned the company to carry out the project.
Moves by the municipality and the committee of elders
He said the committee of elders had contacted the Mayor of Wadi Etba and the municipal council and informed them of residents’ complaints about continuing delays in the clinic’s maintenance work.
He said the mayor had responded, taken several steps, contacted the relevant bodies and visited the Ministry of Health earlier, but what he described as routine problems linked to the approval of budgets within some ministries had delayed the funding.
Proposals to change contractor and complete the project
He said the clinic was completely out of service and that deciding when work might resume was up to the implementing company and the Ministry of Health, while the residents’ committee was continuing its efforts to remove the obstacles.
He added that the proposed solutions included contracting another firm, or the current contractor withdrawing and handing the site over to another party under the supervision of the Ministry of Health.
Temporary premises lack dental, laboratory and maternity services
He said basic services such as vaccinations and emergency first aid were being provided in rented or temporary premises, but these could not make up for the dental and laboratory services, the maternity unit that had served the whole area, and the pharmacy that the polyclinic had provided.
He said the lack of these facilities was forcing residents to go to other hospitals and centres inside and outside the area for more comprehensive treatment.
