A-stan Reconstruction IG: lots of problems with Gardez hospital

Other people are already jumping on the $500/gal payments made for diesel fuel, but as bad as that is, it was only a $300k rip off; mere pocket change as overcharging goes.

OK, that ripoff was newsworthy in its own right and the $500/gal figure certainly makes for good headlines and great one-liner standup jokes.

However, the most outrageous part of the Gardez hospital debacle is going largely unmentioned. You have to read a bit further into the IG's report to find it.

...The new 100-bed Gardez hospital is being built to replace an existing 70-bed hospital in the town of Gardez, Paktiya province. In an April 2013 audit report on health services in Afghanistan, we noted that the Afghan government may not be able to sustain the new Gardez hospital once it is completed.

We also found that the new hospital’s annual operation and maintenance costs could exceed five times the annual operating costs for the hospital that it will be replacing. For example, the existing Gardez hospital has annual operating costs, including generator fuel costs, of about $611,000, and USAID estimated that the annual generator fuel costs alone for the new hospital could be as much as $3.2 million...

posted by Purp at 01:12 PM

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