6 Jul 2009

EU-funded Kiribati health projects near completion

2:30 pm on 6 July 2009

A 50 million US dollar European Union-funded health project in Kiribati is nearing completion with the opening of a health center and seven smaller clinics.

The clinics have opened at different villages on Butaritari, an isolated atoll made famous by Robert Louis Stevenson in his book 'In the South Seas.'

Kiribati EU Project Coordinator, Rodney Yee, says the health infrastructure on Butaritari is part of a second-to-last phase for the multi-million dollar project.

The EU project is funding the construction of 75 new clinics complete with modern medical equipment.

Mr Yee said the remaining islands are Maiana, Kuria and Tabiteuea North, and while the work force hs arrived, work has not started.

He says there are three islands not included in the project because of their existing good hospitals.