Turkish aid groups open health center in Burkina Faso

Two Turkish aid groups on Friday opened a new healthcare center in the West African nation of Burkina Faso.

The new facility in the northern part of the country near the border with Mali is aimed at solving the healthcare challenges of locals, said a statement by the Sadakatas Foundation and the Simal Foundation.

The healthcare center will provide service to some 35,000 people living in nine different settlements.

Establishment of the center, which includes eight rooms and 24 patient beds, took nearly a year. It also features living quarters for doctors, emergency and observation rooms, and a gynecology unit.

A well was opened next to the center to provide it with clean water.

Attending the inauguration ceremony were Aissata Angelina Traore, governor of the Madougou province; Ousmane Ouermi, head of the Madougou municipality; Sadakatas Vice-President Cevdet Hasbal; and officials from the Simal Foundation.

Traore said the area faces many healthcare challenges and the new center will solve many of them. He also expressed his gratitude to the people of Turkey and the two aid groups.

Ouermi, for his part, said: "The province wasn't able to meet the basic medical needs of its people, I thank the people of Turkey on behalf of my nation for changing that."

Hasbal said that, in addition to having eight million malaria infections, the region is facing multidimensional problems.

"People had to travel 35-40 kilometers just to get medical treatment," he added.