By: Mohamed M. Sesay
Systemic Corruption has rendered the Jui Chinese Hospital, especially the component manned by the Government of Sierra Leone as a death trap wherein, artificial shortages are created by Staff at the hospital Pharmacy so that nurses are now dealers of drugs at an astronomical price.
Relatives of Abu Bakar Keita a native of Kabala said their brother died in excruciating pain due to the negligence of the hospital Staff particularly the Pharmacist (Pharm Dauda) who shut down the pharmacy during his night swift. It was disclosed that Pharmacist Dauda abandoned his night duty which gave a staff nurse to have the patent right to sell drugs to patients at higher rice. So because the deceased Abu Bakar Keita who was rushed to the hospital at around 4:00 AM could not afford to buy the smuggled drugs from the nurse and the Pharmacist negligently abandoned his job, causing Abu Bakarr Keita to face his sudden death.
Another testament from Hindowa Koroma, a relative to Watta Koroma, disclosed that her sister was rushed into the Jui Hospital with an emergency but the Pharmacist was not another to sell drugs. Hindowa Koroma continued that it was the same Nurse who offered to sell drugs to the patient for the sum of L 150 after the doctor has done a medical examination on her sister. He said he demanded receipt from the nurse but the nurse told him that those drugs are her drugs adding that, there are no drugs available in the entire hospital. He continued that after twenty minutes, one Gibril Bangura who is a Lab Technician came and requested Le 450 for a test.
Drawing the attention of the Medical Superintend Dr Kabineh, he confessed that all that is happening in the hospital are not a novelty. He said he has been jotting down all the negligence of the staff and mismanagement of the hospital facilities since he took over the hospital. He added that all of the fraud related activities have been a syndicate which needed concerted effort to eradicate.
“This is not a new issue at all in the hospital. Hospital inspectors have come and done their findings but the issue continues. Journalists have come up with a similar complaint. So, it is not easy to change an old system but we are trying hard to put stop to it”, he said.
He also assured that he would serve query letters to the Matrons, the Medical Secretary, the Pharmacist who was supposed to be on duty (Pharm Dauda) and the nurse that was selling those drugs.
Another senior Staff at the hospital Peter Augustine Charles was charged with the responsibility to investigate the above matter. Peter Augustine Charles however, tried to justify the bad happenings at the hospital by holistically apportioning blame to the government. He said there is a huge lacuna in the healthcare service, especially for the Jui Chinese Hospital wherein, the government does not supply drugs to the hospital. He added that the government is incapacitated to supply regular drugs to the hospital. He furthered that at Connaught Hospital, for instance, the government brought in Public Private Partnership to handle the supply and sales of drugs. Unlike Connaught, he said the Jui Chinese Hospital Pharmacy is virtually empty with no drugs which caused the systemic syndicate of nurses selling drugs to patients at an astronomical price.
In a telephone interview with the Minister of Health and Sanitation Dr. Austin Demby, he told A-Z Newspaper that there are two major sources of Medical service from the government which are the Free Healthcare Drugs intended for Pregnant and Lactating mothers and Vulnerable Children, the disabled and the Ebola Survivals. He added that government also has quarterly supplies of medications for all of the Hospitals in the Country. He intimated that what the government is trying to do now is for people who are not captioned in the Free Healthcare, through the engagement of the Public Private Partnership to have a private partnership stationed within the facility to sell drugs at an accessible and affordable rate.
Dr. Demby continued that the Public Private Partnership has already been instituted at the Connaught Hospital. He affirmatively warned that nurses are not allowed to sell drugs at any government hospitals across the country. He added that Connaught Hospital was a pilot stage for the Public Partnership which would be soon cascaded to the remaining Teaching Hospitals in the Western Area and also to the Provincial hospitals.
The Minister of Health and Sanitation furthered that his Ministry has also instituted a hospital inspectorate Unit headed by One Foday Musa, whose responsibility is to pay regular visits to those hospitals to see what is working and what is not working. Minister Demby reassured that the ministry intends to ensure that drugs are available either free or at managed cost for all and sundry. He also acknowledged that there is a parallel pharmacy exclusively manned by the Chinese but promised to rationalize the Jui Hospital Management to have Public Private Partnership Arrangement within the Jui hospital for effective management.
“We are not only being defensive here and it is good that A-Z Newspaper brought this to our attention. We are going to be very proactive about this and we have a solution that we are working on. The government provides Free Healthcare but the government cannot provide Free Healthcare for everybody. But the Public Private Partnership arrangement will ensure affordable, accessible and quality drugs across the hospitals”, said Dr. Demby.
The Deputy Chief Medical Officer in charge of Clinical Dr. Mustapha Kabba assured that the concern by A-Z Newspaper would now serve as an opportunity speedily roll out a cost recovery pharmacy similar to the one at Connaught hospital. He also disclosed that the Jui Hospital is now going to be incorporated among hospitals that would be receiving the Free Healthcare Drugs. He acknowledged the seriousness of the issue brought before the Ministry and therefore, assured that they have dispatched hospital inspectorates to go to the Jui hospital for a comprehensive investigation.
He strongly warned that nurses and other staff at any of the government hospitals do not have the locus standing to buy drugs on the street and sell them to patients at a higher price. He considered it such as malpractice of which, punitive measures would be taken against defaulters. He also assured us that the hygiene situation and management of the Jui Hospital are issues they are going to look into very strongly.