BURKINA FASO: URGENT HOSPITAL RELOCATION

C O N F I D E N T I A L OUAGADOUGOU 000869 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/30/2019 TAGS: EAID EAGR PGOV MASS PHUM MCAP PREL UV SUBJECT: BURKINA FASO: URGENT HOSPITAL RELOCATION ASSISTANCE NEEDED. REF: A. OUAGADOUGOU 694 ¶B. OUAGADOUGOU 753 ¶C. OUAGADOUGOU 815 ¶D. OUAGADOUGOU 816 Classified By: CDA Samuel C. Laeuchli for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. Summary. (U) The Government of Burkina Faso has requested U.S. assistance in providing temporary relocation facilities for the country's primary hospital. Post recommends the Department, USAID and the U.S. Africa Command give serious consideration to the request. End Summary. ¶2. (C) During a 16th September meeting with DAS Fitzgerald and the Charge, Prime Minister Tertius Zongo asked whether Burkina Faso could quickly obtain pre-fabricated field hospitals from the United States. The University Hospital of Yalgado (CHU-YO, the major Ouagadougou hospital),was severely damaged by the September 1st floods. Replacement structures are needed urgently to handle health care demands as little or no other options exist in Burkina Faso to meet specialized health care needs. On September 28th post received an official written request (dated September 25) from the Prime Minister detailing the damage to the Yalgado Hospital, outlining plans to relocate, and soliciting U.S. assistance. ¶2. (SBU) On September 29th, at the request of the Prime Minister, Minister of Health (MOH) Seydou Bouda met with Charge to follow-up on and further discuss the request for USG assistance in relocating the CHU-YO. He explained that the GOBF had a preference for pre-fabricated hospital building structures (citing hot weather and rain as the rationale),but said that air conditioned tents, or converted containers might also be options worth exploring. While the hospital plans presented to us show 25 individual structures, when pressed, Bouda said that, if necessary, they could prioritize needs and make do with just eight units. Those structures would contain wards that could not be transferred elsewhere (either because of high level of specialization or sheer number of patients.) The essential bare minimum service that would be relocated are: pediatrics and obstetrical services, the trauma unit, internal medicine, urology, the laboratory, pharmacy and imagery unit(housing the scanner, MRI, radiology.) The MOH offered that "he had no doubts the U.S. Army can carry this out", and said that at present there was no other donor or international organization on the horizon to fund this emergency project. ¶3. (SBU) Bouda told us that the GOBF had already started working on the project and that bulldozers had leveled the ground surface, water and electricity infrastructure were being developed, and the connection to the telephone lines had been requested. Bouda asked that the USG consider funding, even partially, this relocation project, and requested that a team of medical planners come quickly to Ouagadougou to look at the feasibility of the project and offer input on technical solutions and financing venues. ¶4. (SBU) COMMENT: Post recommends the Department, USAID and the U.S. Africa Command give serious consideration to this request. The hospital relocation project is obviously an important issue for the GOBF and one that has traction at the highest echelons of the government. Consensus among donors and the GOBF is that the CHU-YO is inoperable in its current state and will need at minimum two to three years to be rehabilitated. As a result, a viable alternative solution needs to be found in order to ensure that adequate medical services, especially in specialized fields, are available in the capital city (Note: CHU-YO is the National Reference Facility for Burkina Faso. End Note.) ¶5. (SBU) Post has discussed assistance options with the TDY-USAID/OFDA officer and understands that this type of project is not only outside of the OFDA's mandate, but also not feasible via USAID's Office of American Schools and Hospitals (ASHA). Post has also learned that the World Health Organization (WHO-Burkina Faso) is not planning on engaging with the GOBF on this project other than by supplying technical assistance and emergency medical kits. At this time, obtaining assistance from U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) may be one of the last options available. Humanitarian assistance at this juncture would be much appreciated by Burkina Faso, and would help cement the command's credentials as offering broad based solutions to the continent's problems. END COMMENT. ¶6. (SBU) The following is an unofficial translation of the Prime Minister's request for U.S. assistance. Excellency Mister Ambassador, I would like to renew my gratitude, as well as that of the Burkinabe Government, for all the help you have given the populations who were rendered homeless as a result of the September 1, 2009 floods, and also bring to your attention the situation in which the University Hospital Center of Yalgado (CHU-YO) finds itself in. The CHU-YO was hit hard by the September 1st floods and all 29 units/wards were completely put out of service. The hardest hit were: urology, pneumonology, infectious diseases, scanner, dialysis, dermatology, neurology, cardiology, trauma, neuro-surgery, bacteriology, anesthesiology/reanimation and ER. In all of these units, the diagnostic equipment was submerged by water, medical supplies and office equipment were almost totally lost. Archives and patient files are unsalvageable, now no records exist for all of these wards/units. For the moment, experts are working alongside our teams to evaluate the extent of the damage. In order to ensure the continuity of health care services, and in order to continue to be on-call, the Government of Burkina Faso has decided to temporarily move the CHU-YO to several sites including the National Laboratory for Public Health (LNSP),Notre-Dame of Fatima Welcome Center (tuberculoses and HIV/AIDS) in sector 30, and the NGO Better Life (facial surgery) in sector 24. I am contacting you, in the name of the Burkinabe Government, to solicit assistance from your country in order to accomplish this temporary relocation of services, as well as the rehabilitation of the destroyed Hospital Center. The map detailing the move plans has been attached. The relocation plan will allow 27 of the 29 wards/units to be moved, and will offer 360 beds out of the original 700 beds. (Salutations) Tertius Zongo LAEUCHLI