USAID Supports Neuro-Science Building in Maharashtra Hospital

November 15, 2007

NEW DELHI –Today in Miraj, Honorable Finance Minister of Maharashtra State, Jayant Patil inaugurated a new neuro-sciences building at the Miraj Medical Centre in Maharashtra State. The neuro-sciences building was constructed with funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) through the American Schools and Hospitals Abroad Program.

Wanless Hospital, Miraj Medical Center, began in 1894 as a one-room dispensary in the Miraj market that has grown to institution with specialized services in neurosurgery, hemodialysis, kidney transplantation and heart surgery. The Miraj Medical Center is the only fully-comprehensive health care entity in a 150 mile radius and serves a population of 20 million people providing low-cost care.

The USAID American Schools and Hospitals Abroad program provides foreign nationals the benefit of American ideas and practices in education and medicine. Since the inception of the program, it has assisted 198 institutions in over 62 countries.

Wanless Hospital is one of these institutions and has received three ASHA grants totaling more than US$ 1 million. During the inauguration USAID officer Peter Downs announced a new grant to Wanless Hospital for the purchase of medical equipment.