Wednesday, June 19, 2013 08:05 
Catholic Hospital Writes House Speaker...Begs For Government's Funding
Story by Alva M. Wolokolie
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The Management of St. Joseph's Catholic Hospital has written House Speaker Alex J. Tyler and members of that August body to assist the hospital by influencing the increment in the subsidy from National Government from US$125,000.00 to US$500,000.00.
The hospital established and opened in 1963 by the Hospitable Order of the Brothers of St. John of God with main head quarters in Rome and regional head quarters in Accra, Ghana has threatened to close down recently due to some financial crisis it is faced with.
Currently, the hospital is under the management of the Castilla Province in Spain for a period of 5 years, four and three quarters of which has already passed. The hospital has 141 bed rooms that cater to people from all walks of life; the majority being for low income Liberians. It has a staff of 157 which includes 7 doctors, 3 are Liberians and the rest are from DR Congo and Egypt.
In a communication read before the plenary of the House of Representatives yesterday, July 19, 2012, the Medical Director of the hospital Lily M. Sanvee told the lawmakers that because of peace and stability in the country, donors are not helping the hospital anymore.
She named the global economic crisis being experienced in Spain where the hospital's support is highly been depended upon as one of the factors responsible for the breakdown of the hospital.
According to the Medical Director Sanvee, the institution was built to assist other major institutions in the country at the time, but has become one of the referral hospitals receiving complicated cases from other hospitals and a teaching hospital.
Dr. Sanvee mentioned that the increment will help with the gap that will be created when its major donor pulls out in September 2012. The St. Joseph Hospital boss acknowledged the subsidy from government since fiscal year 2006 in the sum of US$100,000.00 which was later increased to US$125,000.00 but such amount does not even meet the bills of the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) and the cost of fuel.
“Mr. Speaker, we have lots of economic difficulties. Our donors are not helping as they used to do before because there is peace and stability in Liberia now and also because of the global economic crisis and Spain being no exception. We have been left to generate as much funds as we can for the running cost of the hospital,” Medical Director Sanvee told the plenary of the House.
After the reading of the communication, a motion was made that the request of the hospital should be forwarded to the committees on Ways, Means, and Finance and Health and Social Welfare to report back to plenary on the 9th of August 2012.
