Tele Aviv Exchange listed Ashtrom Group in Multi-Million Dollar Infrastructure deal to Upgrade Maina Soko Hospital
“However, this new ground breaking of Maina Soko Medical Centre contradicts earlier commitments by the Ministry of Finance that communicated to the public that project prioritisation would focus on the ones that are 80% and above stage of completion. Zambia is in the middle of an IMF negotiation for a $USD1.3billion bailout package which have stalled due to structural challenges raised to include debt contraction. The IMF and World Bank have levelled Zambia as having embarked on an overly aggressive infrastructural expansionary agenda that has seen debt levels rise significantly. Business Times Senior Strategist
TELE AVIV Stock Exchange listed Ashtrom Group Plc - ASHG has been named as the developer in the infrastructure upgrade of Zambia’s largest Military hospital Maina Soko. The military hospital is set to undergo a multi-million-dollar upgrade. The exact cost of the infrastructure project has not yet been disclosed.
Ashtrom Group, one of Israel’s leading construction and property developers was incorporated in 1963 and launched its Initial Public Offering - IPO on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. Ashtrom stocks are currently traded within the Tel Aviv 100. The company has already commenced works and is expected to complete the first phase of works in 36 months.
The military hospital, which was named after an old Zambian woman named ‘Maina Soko’ who was shot and killed on a canoe while on the Zambezi river at the height of the liberation struggle by a special, secretive unit from then Southern Rhodesia's army, known as the Selous Scout, has a special meaning Zambia.
Speaking during the ground breaking ceremony, Republican President, Edgar Lungu stated that “our men and women in uniform have not been left out of the national infrastructure development agenda, we are here to mark the commencement of this multi-billion Kwacha project.” Initially opened in 1974, Maina Soko Military hospital is Zambia’s largest Military hospital based in Lusaka. The military hospital was set up to specialize in providing health services for the military personnel, their spouses and other family members in the southern command.
Maina Soko was later changed to provide health services to civilian personnel, government officials and other people in need within Zambia. The hospital is ideally supposed to provide specialist military medical requirements which include medical, surgical, obstetric, diagnostic services and has expanded to provide all clinical in - support.
The northern command military hospital in Ndola last received a facelift in 2015 and caters for the health needs of the northern command based military personnel and the civilian community is expected to receive a similar facelift.
The northern command is responsible for security in the northern parts of Zambia that include the Mining and Industrial hub – the Copperbelt and North Western provinces. They are also responsible for securing Zambia’s northern borders that includes Angola, the DRC and Tanzania.
Zambia’s military hospitals serve both the military and civilian communities. The military hospitals operations and medical programs are synchronized with the health systems of the country to ensure that they keep abreast with especially civilian health needs.
Other Military hospitals like the Zambia Air Force - ZAF base hospital also had an expansion project commissioned by President Lungu in 2016 at a cost of ZMW15.5 million (US$1.6 million). The Police hospital however remains a second tier Sikanze Camp Police Hospital.
The armed forces hospitals that cater exclusively for military and armed forces remain key to the country’s health system and act as the custodians of specialized health services provisions that become vital when there are special military operations and civil unrest.
The military hospitals are also preferred were the nature of health issues are of a sensitive nature for both military and political reasons as they leverage the hard-line discipline and management style that the armed forces operate with.
President Lungu recently hosted Israeli Defence Minister and his delegation. Discussions were held between Zambian and Israeli leadership to strengthen ties between the two nations.