Germany converts € 13 m loan to a grant to complete new maternity hospital in Galle

Strengthening the long-standing close partnership of the two countries, the Government of Germany has proposed to convert the supplementary loan obtained from the German KfW Development Bank to complete the new maternity (Teaching) hospital in Galle into a grant. 

Finance Ministry Secretary S.R. Attygalle, KfW Development Bank Head of Division – Health and Social Protection Asia Martina Koch and KfW Development Bank Senior Project Manager – Health and Social Protection Asia Annika Unterpertinger signed the Grant Agreement amounting to € 13 million yesterday.  

Mahamodara Maternity Hospital, which was seriously damaged due to the Tsunami disaster is being reconstructed with the financial assistance from German Government through its KfW Development bank. The bank initially extended a loan of € 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 € 13 million in 2017 to cover the additional requirements of the hospital.

The project targets to provide maternity and gynaecology 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 Outpatient Department (OPD) and clinics.