The Horizons Clinic project, first mooted almost two decades ago, is a step closer to reality following the securing of funding for the construction phase of the development, signalling a transition from intention to institution.
Professor James N’Dow, the initiative’s main driver, takes up the story. “Nineteen years ago, we wrote to the then Minister of Health of The Gambia with a simple but demanding proposition, namely that we needed land to build an international-standard, socially driven hospital, one that could deliver high-quality care to all Gambians while also generating the self-sustainability required to support charitable work over the long term. The aim was never a short-term project, but a durable institution.
“The path since then has been long, at times painful, and necessarily rigorous. Securing land, governance structures, trust, and financing has taken far longer than any of us anticipated. But those years were not incidental, they were essential to building something that could endure.
“This milestone belongs to many people including colleagues and partners in The Gambia, trustees and advisors, supporters who understood that sustainability requires patience, and local leadership that insisted on standards, accountability, and long-term thinking.”