Madar (Nouakchott) - Prime Minister El Moctar Ould Djay's field visit to several health facilities in Nouakchott on Saturday, October 17, 2026, set new deadlines for major health projects and revealed that contracts with late suppliers and contractors had been terminated, according to a report by the Mauritanian News Agency (AMI).
At the National Oncology Centre, a new radiotherapy machine has been installed, with its programming and staff training due to be completed before November 15, while the CT scanner has been operating for three months, the agency said.
The extension of the National Hospital Centre, with about 150 beds, is expected to be completed, equipped and opened in mid-November.
On ambulances, 44 vehicles have arrived out of an order of 100, and the supplier's contract was terminated for missing deadlines. The national fleet had fewer than 200 vehicles.
The capital has 28 health centres, 15 of which have been handed over to the sector committee; 12 now fall under the Ministry of Health, which has begun equipping them, while contracts for five delayed centres were terminated. More than 40 centres are under construction in the interior.
The report cited the recruitment of 1,200 health workers, including doctors, nurses, midwives and specialists, and negotiations to finance an independent cancer hospital, as well as plans to expand the specialty hospital and cardiology department and studies for a mother-and-child hospital.
In the interior, hospitals in Selibaby and Atar have been inaugurated, Tidjikja's is in provisional handover, and those in Aioun and Aleg are due to open by the end of the year, with work continuing in Zouerate and Akjoujt.
Ould Djay said the government would keep visiting projects "whenever necessary", announcing a comprehensive review of the visit's findings to correct shortcomings and make up for delays.
