First all, the project is about the construction of a hospital, specialised in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases in children, in the region of Morcellement St Andre. It will be a public service type organisation. The decision to construct a children’s hospital lies in that, nowadays, we have noticed that many children are suffering from medical conditions untreatable by our current health care institutions (due to lack of proper equipment/facilities/knowledge and techniques) and we all know that many low to medium income people cannot afford to pay for the required services to treat their children overseas.
According to a research of the Central Statistics Office from the 30 September 2009, ‘at least 80% of the 4 478 people who died as a result of heart disease in Mauritius last year could have been saved through changes in lifestyle and the practice of regular physical activity’[1].
The Minister of Health and Quality of Life, Dr Rajesh Jeetah recalled that figures from the Mauritius Nutrition Survey carried out in 2004 by the Ministry of Health and Quality of Life showed that 7.4% of children aged between 12 to 19 years were obese while 8.4% were overweight. About 44% also spent two or more hours per day watching television. The Minister pointed out that childhood obesity is one of the leading causes of chronic health conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, coronary heart disease and cancers and underlined the need to inculcate a healthy lifestyle among the young generation during childhood and adolescence.’[1]
We have come to the conclusion that Mauritius needs a hospital specialised in the treatment of children as the rate of health diseases for children have increased constantly during the past years and they are the future of tomorrow. The hospital will provide a full range of state-of-the-art inpatient and outpatient clinical services for children and their families to optimise health and well-being and will consist of