Donka Hospital in Conakry, Guinea is similar to many African hospitals. Built in 1959 just before independence, it was designed based on a European model, with little consideration for the realities of Africa. Its plight typifies the crisis affecting the entire African health sector.
Over the years the hospital has accumulated substantial debt that neither the Guinean state nor international agencies will pay. Compelled to develop its financial autonomy, the hospital enforces a pay-as-you-go policy. Revenues rise, but access to treatment diminishes.
As we follow the floor-to-floor progress of patients and their families, doctors and nurses, the alternating portraits form a living chronicle where tragedy meets hope.


A Film by Thierry Michel

"In the course of revealing the state of basic services in West Africa... DONKA also illuminates the dedication of the few who struggle against the darkness, and the cruelty implicit in a society where health care in available only for those who can afford it."-San Francisco Film Festival

✮ Golden Spire Award, 1997 San Francisco Film Festival

✮Best of Festival, 1997 Hot Docs Festival (Toronto)