THE government is to spend about 15bn/- for construction of Tanga city hospital in order to reduce burden from the regional referral hospital of Bombo.

The Tanga City Medical Officer, Dr Peter Neema, told the 'Daily News' in his office that construction work which has already started, was being done by Ibra Contractors from Dar es Salaam.

He further said so far they have started with the consultation block which has to be accomplished by the end of this year or early next year. Dr Neema noted that the city council has allocated about 24 hectares of land for the project, enough to accommodate a large project like a hospital.

According to him, the hospital will have 24 storey buildings to cater for the present and future medical needs of the residents of Tanga city.

"This will be one of the modern and biggest city hospitals in the country - and it might be bigger than even Bombo referral hospital in terms of area and buildings," he explained. He estimated that the hospital will have about 400 beds and that Tanga was a fast growing city, therefore even the hospital was planned to cater for the needs of a growing population now and 50 years to come.

The city medical officer called upon Tanga residents to come up and contribute for the rapid development of the hospital, instead of leaving everything to the government. Dr Neema said the government will implement the project in phases, depending on the availability of funds, but if residents contribute, then the process will be faster.