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Largest hospital closed

[DRC] The DRC and Liberia have been overrun for years by men in uniforms. Soldiers and arms are part of everyday life. Sylvia Spring/IRIN
The DRC military, often unpaid and badly led, has a reputation for indiscipline.

Liberia’s 600-bed John F. Kennedy Hospital in Monrovia, the country’s largest, was closed on Sunday because of a lack of drugs, equipment, and fuel to run its generator, humanitarian sources told IRIN.

“Patients were sent home or to other hospitals in the country,” one source said on Thursday.

“The closure will remain in effect until all necessary conditions are met,” one bone surgeon, told PANA.
The shortages have plagued the hospital since President Charles Taylor was elected three years ago.
Employees, angered by delayed salaries and poor conditions at the facility, began a work slowdown two months ago. Wounded soldiers also protested the conditions.

The government has reportedly received US $2 million from Taiwan to help reopen the hospital.


This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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