By Sami Zaptia.
London, 9 September 2020:
- Brega General Hospital, in Brega eastern Libya opens
- Hospital to be operated by a private company – PPP
- The PPP experiment follows an earlier project in Jalo Hospital
- Eastern Libyan Government decree No. 483/2020 allows for PPP
- Decree sets precedent for more PPP projects in east
- Format could be replicated more widely in rest of Libya and other sectors
- Average cost of operating a state hospital in Libya revealed
- Better private sector operations, management and cost efficiencies revealed
The Municipality of Brega opened Brega General Hospital on Monday (7 September) after handing it over on Saturday for operation by the private sector Mithaq Insurance Company, the eastern-based LANA news agency reported Monday.
Dr. Emad Al-Mesmari, the Executive Director of the Hospital Department of Mitaq said the opening of the hospital ‘‘was a dream which has become a tangible reality after the efforts of the hospital management, and all those who helped, for the purpose of achieving a qualitative shift and a dramatic transformation in the health sector in the municipality of Brega’’.
Mesmari praised the eastern-based government for being wise in taking a step in the right direction, in choosing a mechanism to operate this important health facility, in line with the requirements of the stage and development, and in providing the best health services to the citizens – in accordance with the decision of eastern Libyan Government decree No. 483/2020.
“The vision of the operation of hospitals through specialized companies, came on the instructions of the eastern based government in order to provide the best free and high-end treatment services to the citizens, in light of what the country is going through.”
“Through these companies’’, Mesmari continued, ‘‘treatment will be localized in Libya. We have a precedent at the Jalo Hospital with a clinical capacity of 200 beds, and Mitaq is the first company to make this offer, and we have sufficient experience in management and full operation.”
Average cost of hospital operations
Mesmari said that “The objectives of this vision are that the state receives excellent services at the lowest costs, if we look at public hospitals, we will find that the budget of one hospital ranges from 14 to 15 million dinars per year, while through this service the budget of one hospital does not exceed 9 million dinars per year.”
Private sector much more efficient
Hinting at the health state sector mismanagement, profligacy and corruption, Mesmari explained that “What distinguishes private companies is that when they operate hospitals, they have no extravagance in medical supplies and medicines, meaning that what is spent is only what the citizen needs, and the maintenance of medical equipment, because it will be in the company’s hands,” he said.
“Now in most European countries, government hospitals are operated in this way and have positive results, and we will rely on great experiences that have a long history, and there will be visiting doctors, and we will achieve the goal, God willing.”
Operating stages revealed
On the mechanism of operation of this hospital, Dr. Emad Al-Masmari said that it will be in three stages. The first stage is the operation of the outpatient clinics and the laboratory.
The second stage is to test the equipment in order, especially in terms of sterilization, laundry, refrigerator of the dead, opening operations and emergencies.
The third stage is to localize treatment and bring in consultants and visiting doctors for major operations.
“I expect that we will finish the third and final phase in no more than 4 months, and we have already applied what I mentioned earlier in Jalo Hospital,” Mesmari said.
