By: Thaimu Bai Sesay
As he pays unannounced visit at the Ola During hospital officially known as Princess Christian Memorial Hospital (PCMH) on Thursday 14th September 2023, Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh, Vice President of the Republic of Sierra Leone has confirmed that premature babies now have 80 percent chances of survival as special baby care unit has recently been expanded at district level.
After a tour at the different units in the hospital to gather first-hand information, the Vice President started off by expressing thanks to the management, superintendent, doctors, matrons, nurses and all other staff at the hospital for the massive improvements he saw. He set forth that his visit to the hospital was a long time plan and expressed that he was pleased that he was finally able to get to the hospital. As one of the responsibilities delegated to him by the President as direct supervisor of the Health Ministry, V.P Jalloh intimated that he had a special health unit in his office, adding that he had been very close to the health sector.
The Vice President called to mind that when they came into governance in 2018, they met the budgetary allocation for health at 6 percent. Progressively, he revealed they kept increasing that budget to 8, 9 and to 11 percent. “We want to keep that although we know that we are still far behind in the Sub-Saharan Abuja declaration which says every Sub-Saharan African country will have to spend about 15 percent of the GDP on health, but we are slightly above 11 percent. And when you scale up that kind of expenditure you would want to see the outcome on the ground. V.P Jalloh clarified.
Reflecting on some of the successes, the Sierra Leone Vice President affirmed that through their intervention as government, they were able to recruit additional health workers which he statistically mentioned to be over 6,000. He added that they had been able to increase the ratio of nurses per patient and doctors per patient and equally supported the development of blood banks as well as the increment of ambulances. “So when you come to hospital you have a clear understanding of the intervention you make at the policy level and the outcomes at the operational level,” V.P further clarified.
V.P Jalloh affirmed that from his tour at the different units of the Ola During hospital, a lot of development had been taken place. He expressed that he was overwhelmed with what the doctors, matrons and the superintendents at the hospital told him. The Vice President said from his encounter with Dr. Bell, head of management at the hospital, he was impressed to know that the IC Unit, the hospital has at the lab was so developed that even people from all over the place may come to utilize it. “According to the Matron, Ola During hospital has nearly 300 nurses. So it shows that the massive recruitment of additional health workers is paying off,” V.P Juldeh Jalloh expressed.
V.P Juldeh further recalled his 2019 visit at the Special Baby Care Unit in Makeni, Bombali district and said at that period, baby care unit were only limited to regional outfit, adding that there were only four in the upcountry. “So I made a special appeal to UNICEF to expand that to the district level. And today, we are very happy that every district in this country has a special baby care unit. That means premature babies born with critical conditions now have 80 percent chances to survive unlike before when there was only 20 percent.
The Vice President went on explaining his experiences at the different units of the Ola During hospital in which he said he saw bouncing babes at the labour ward, and a systemic transition at the lab from manual to automated lab system, which he said the technicians were very excited about that. V.P Jalloh also recounted that he also visited the blood bank and said the doctors were very satisfied with the blood bank and with the services they were rendering.
Vice President expressed that although there had been massive improvement but said that there were huge challenges such as limited bed spaces, infrastructure, human resource, transportation, medical supplies and staff at the hospital. He assured that the government would carefully look at those challenges and find possible means to address them, as he instantly scheduled a meeting with the management and staff at the hospital. The Vice President Juldeh Jalloh assured to provide short term, medium term and long term solutions to the aforementioned challenges.
One of the matrons at the hospital expressed that they were very happy with the Vice President’s visit as she affirmed that it was indeed meant to know their challenges. She said they had the opportunity to talk with the Vice President one on one and that they were able to explained their challenges at the hospital as well as the recent developments.
