Investigative Group

USAID Thinks It Has An Afghan Hospital In The Mediterranean

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An American-funded Afghan medical facility is in the Mediterranean Sea, while 12 more are located elsewhere outside of the country, if U.S. Agency for International Development data is accurate, according to a government watchdog.

USAID may be missing locations for nearly 510 – or about 80 percent – of the 641 Afghan health care facilities it funds, according to a letter written by Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction John F. Sopko.

USAID provided over $210 million as of March 2015 to support the Afghan Ministry of Public Health’s efforts to “deliver basic health services to the Afghan people,” according to the letter.

“To provide meaningful oversight of these facilities, both USAID and MOPH need to know where they are,” Sopko wrote.

Of the 13 coordinates located outside Afghanistan, six were in Pakistan, six were in Tajikistan and one was in the Mediterranean Sea, USAID’s data showed.

Another 30 facilities’ coordinates were located in Afghanistan, but in a different province than listed.

Also, facilities reportedly shared the same locations in 13 cases.

Coordinates for 108 facilities didn’t have any nearby buildings, while another 81 had no physical structures within a half-mile radius.

An additional 154 coordinates were near buildings, but didn’t identify which structure was the medical facility.

Sopko gave USAID until July 30 to provide either updated coordinates or a plan to obtain them.

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