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By Libya Herald reporters.
Benghazi, 10 August 2017:
Beida health minister Reida El-Oakley has been pushing for better security at hospitals throughout the east and seeking more funding for the sector. In a meeting with interim premier Abdullah Al-Thinni he set out his strategy to boost health, which includes a plan to hire Ugandan medical personnel. A major concern is funding medical supplies and equipment.
Thinni had earlier had a meeting with eastern Central Bank governor Ali Al-Habri to look at further funding for the health ministry, which like all other Beida ministries receives no direct funding from the Central Bank of Libya (CBL) in Tripoli besides the payment of salaries. The ministries continue to be funded to by the Beida CBL, which according to Oakley talking to the Libya Herald last month, has so far borrowed LD 22 billion from commercial banks.
Beida finance and planning minister Kamel Al-Hassi has said that hospitals in Benghazi are being given some LD12 million, LD5 million of which is going to Benghazi Medical Centre (BMC) and LD3 million to Jalaa hospital, which are the only two hospitals in the city which are still just abut functioning. Hassi said that in the first six months of this year the ministry had allocated LD30 million, largely for Benghazi hospitals.
It is likely that Oakley also raised the arrest last month of senior BMC managers suspected of corruption, a move which he publicly deplored.
