Singapore: In a bid to improve healthcare facilities in Sierra Leone, the Taiwan-based Buddhist Tzu chi Foundation has offered to adopt eleven healthcare facilities in the country. The Foundation plans to improvise healthcare delivery services by equipping the hospitals with infrastructure, facilities and expertise.

The Foundation announced in a recent press conference that it has identified seven hospitals and four clinics in the country, including the government hospitals in Kenema and Bo, the PCMH, Connaught and the 34th Military hospitals in Freetown, as well as the government hospitals in Port Loko and Kambia.

Mr Stephen Fomba, West Africa project manager for Tzu chi Foundation, remarked that while progress had been made in bringing the Ebola crisis under control, a number of new cases were still being reported each week.

He added that the initiative also aims at supporting the families affected by the outbreak. "We aim to address the country's deficiency in healthcare infrastructure which has partly been blamed for high rates of infant mortality and maternal death even before Ebola. We also plan to design a healthcare system that can tackle future pandemics effectively."