Touching lives where it matters most. This adds to the reasons ex Ivory Coast international, Didier Drogba is a worshipped figure in his country. The Chelsea legend has launched one of the five hospitals he promised to build for his country as part of his charity activities.
Adducing reasons for undertaking the project, the superstar sometime in 2009 said “When I visited a hospital in Abidjan this year, I was shocked by the terrible conditions. We hear about all the incurable diseases, but these kids are just as likely to die from diabetes because there is no insulin available. It was then I decided the Foundation’s first project should be to build and fund a hospital giving people basic healthcare and a chance just to stay alive.”
The well-appointed $1 million complex is situated in the Attecoube district of Abidjan and has like the ultrasound room, a maternal and child protection unit, an x-ray block, an ultra modern laboratory, a pharmacy and hospitalisation and isolation wards.
According to Guy Roland Tanoh, secretary of Didier Drogba Foundation, the new hospital will cater for less privileged women and children in the Ivorian capital and is expected to treat around 50,000 patients every year.
The remaining four hospitals are still under construction in the
cities of Yamoussoukro, San Pedro, Man and Korhogo and they will be launched in the coming months.