In the village of Kalai Dust in Tajikistan, locals have begun building a hospital on their own. Currently, there isn’t even an outpatient clinic, and women go to a neighboring village to give birth, Radio Ozodi reports. Local entrepreneurs together with migrant workers from the village have already collected half of the sum of 8 million somoni required ($740,000).
“According to the project, there will be 16 wards. Zoning is envisioned – on the lower floor there will be a maternity ward and on the second floor a children’s hospital for children up to 12-years-old… [It’s] on the initiative of our migrants working in Russia, thanks to them: they organized it,” said Asliddin Tojizoda, a resident of the village.
Residents hope that when the hospital is built, albeit at the expense of the villagers themselves, it will be fully transferred to the state and the authorities will provide it with the necessary specialists. The village needs doctors very badly.
Approximately 30 hectares of land have been allocated for the hospital in a plot adjacent to the local school. According to some villagers, while people were collecting money, the local authorities gave part of the land for private construction; now, residents are trying to challenge the officials’ decision and return the land to public use. They are filing a collective complaint against the district chairman.
