As part of aiding development in the education sector the US Ambassador to Sierra Leone Michael Owen and Wife Annerieke have donated books on infectious and other diseases to the College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences (COMHAS).
Receiving the books on behalf of the College the Acting Provost Dr. Baimba Baryoh said that having established in 1988, the College has achieved success by the number of health care professionals that they have trained; Doctors, Nurses and Pharmacists.
He added that had it not been for the influx of the medics to other countries abroad in search of greener pastures “the man power needs in these areas would have been covered.”
He said “our graduates are usually accepted in institutions abroad, which shows that they are fairly high quality. One such example is the present Director of the Centre for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia, Dr. Desmond Williams, who is one of the first graduates from COMAHS.”
Highlighting some of the challenges faced by the College, the Acting Provost said the biggest is that they want the College to have a centralized campus that will have an administrative building, halls, residence for students, lecturers’ blocks and other facilities.
He stated “fortunately, the Government of Sierra Leone with the help of the Chinese Government has constructed a modern Teaching Hospital Campus and with centralization of the campus, ICT connectivity can be achieved easily.”
With this facility “it would also cut down on the costs of transportation of staff and students from Freetown to Kossoh Town as transportation is another challenge that we face.”
Dr. Baryoh said that the books came at the right time as it coincides with the soon to be commissioned constructed library and the books will be the first to take the shelves in the Library.
The US Ambassador Michael Owen said that this is the start of the partnership with the Embassy and the College as he wants to collaborate with them.
He disclosed that some few months back he visited the campus at Kossoh Town where he learnt about the work of the College and some of the challenges they are faced with and this was what prompted the need for the donation.
He added that he is very happy to see the progress of COMAHS which is one of the Medical Teaching Institutions in West Africa.
The Ambassador said the books are highly technical and they are hard to find and they are not available in the whole of West Africa.
Mrs. Annerieke Owen said that as a staff of the National Health Center in the USA, when they were about to come to Sierra Leone she informed the other Doctors and they promised that they will not be able to come but will facilitate support to the country through books which will help both students and Doctors.
She disclosed that the Institute funds Scientists to write books on infectious disease and other diseases that is why the ones donated are original and very important.
By Betty Milton
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