With so much premium put on the provision of electricity by the current government, the Koidu Government Hospital is currently faced with unavailability of electricity and water supplies.
Speaking to Awoko recently in Kono, Kumba Kelly Mansaray revealed that she was a victim of poor medical facility in the district. “I was carrying a dead child in my womb for weeks and staff at the government hospital could not detect it, since they had no scanning machines. I had to travel to Freetown where a medical doctor detected that I was caring a corpse in my womb”, Kumba told Awoko. When contacted at the Koidu Government Hospital, Dr Tamba Lebbie, a medical doctor attached to hospital confirmed that the hospital was encountering problems in electricity and water provision.
The doctor said the unavailability of electricity in the hospital was adversely affecting his work. “We can afford to do operation in the theatre since electricity is available there but when electricity is not in the wards, then that partially could affect my work”, Dr Lebbie said.
He disclosed that the hospital’s mortuary had been without electricity and that they could only maintain a corpse for a period not exceeding 72 hours by the use of formalin.
Dr Lebbie revealed that there were only two medical doctors in the hospital and one in the primary health care division.
Another official at the hospital’s dispensary department told Awoko that they had not been getting drug supply from the central medical stores for the past couple of months and this, he said, was due to the devolution of that function to the Kono District Council. ‘“Everything is now centred on the local councils and as such we are getting problems in drug supply”, he disclosed.