Project description

Title: St. Mary’s Zonal Hospital, Axum
Commissioned by: Tigray Regional Health Bureau
Financier: Tigray Regional Health Bureau
Country: Ethiopia
Overall term: 2006 to 2010

Context

Outside the major urban centres, Ethiopia’s towns and rural areas suffer from a severe shortage of health care facilities. The historic town of Axum is no exception. St Mary’s District Hospital in Axum, which is located in the country’s northernmost regional state of Tigray, is more than 40 years old. It is a referral hospital for 10 health centres in its zone, serving around 250,000 people. With more than 10 patients to a room before the project began, it simply did not have enough space. In response, the Tigray Regional Health Bureau contracted GIZ International Services to manage the construction of the new, modern St Mary’s Zonal Hospital.

Objective

St Mary’s Zonal Hospital has set a new standard in quality and efficiency in the north of Ethiopia. With more space and better technology, it provides improved services including laboratories, mother and child care facilities, an operation theatre, outpatient department, cafeteria and shops for the patients.

Approach

The design and construction of St Mary’s Zonal Hospital combined cost-efficient construction technology with a high quality of finish. These building techniques saved time as well as costs by streamlining established construction principles, such as:

• standardisation of building elements
• reduction of the number of required elements
• prefabrication
• use of a modular system.

As a result, construction was labour-intensive and minimised the use of machinery, which meant it created jobs for Axum residents. The building work was also contracted to an Ethiopian firm. Furthermore, the new hospital was designed to make later extensions possible.

The new St Mary’s Zonal Hospital serves one million people as a referral hospital for smaller district hospitals, health posts and health centres. Axum’s new health care facility will deliver services through four medical departments: general treatment, mother-and-child treatment, paediatrics and surgery.

Working on behalf of the Tigray Regional Health Bureau, in a single package GIZ International Services supplied the building design and oversaw the construction, equipment planning, hospital management and training, and it helped to prepare the maintenance concept.

Results achieved so far

St Mary’s Zonal Hospital has set a new standard, which should be emulated by other zonal hospitals being planned for the region.