Germany pledges to convert Euro 13 million Loan into grant for construction of new maternity hospital in Galle

Strengthening the long-standing close partnership between Germany and Sri Lanka, the German government proposed to convert the supplementary loan obtained from the German KfW bank for completing the New Maternity Hospital (Teaching) Galle into a grant, Finance Ministry said. 

Accordingly, Secretary to the Ministry of Finance, S R Attygalle, Head of Division, Health and Social protection Asia from KfW Development Bank Martina Koch and Senior Project Manager, Health and Social protection Asia from KfW Development Bank  Annika Unterpertinger signed a Grant Agreement amounting to Euro 13 million today in Colombo.

Mahamodara Maternity Hospital, which was seriously damaged due to the Tsunami disaster is being reconstructed with financial assistance from the German Government through its KfW Bank. 

KfW has initially extended a loan of Euro 28 million to complete the reconstruction work of the hospital which was initiated by a grant from the Helmut Khol Foundation. While construction was going on, KfW extended a supplementary loan of Euro 13 mn in 2017 to cover the additional requirements of the hospital.

The project targets to provide Maternity and Gynecology health care services to the female population of the Southern Province by reconstructing the hospital with 600-bed maternity care facilities and 800 patients’ treatment facilities at the Out Patient Department (OPD) and clinics, the Ministry said.