As part of its field trips the Open Government Initiative (OGI) in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has over the weekend led a delegation of Kenema District Members of Parliament on an assessment tour of health care delivery facilities at the Kenema Government Hospital in east of Sierra Leone.
During the working tour led by the Kenema Government Hospital Surgeon Specialist, Dr. Samuel Bornu Sesay, the inspection team of MPs was able to discover inadequacies ranging from leaking roofs, broken theatre beds, scrapped vehicles, non-functional operating wards, the lack of toilet facilities, poor drainages, damaged annex ward as well as x-ray laboratories and a long list of smashed-up medical equipment.
Also the inspection team visited the labour ward, dental clinic, kitchen (with empty store), paediatric ward with no good beds to admit nursing babies.
Making an appeal during the tour the Minority Leader in Parliament representing the opposition Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) Hon. Emmanuel Tommy called on government and donors to urgently come to the aid of the district’s only referral hospital. Hon. Tommy observed that there is nothing impressive about the hospital as everything
there is worn out, saying that the only working ward is the one he built.
On behalf of his colleagues, the Minority Leader expressed thoughtful gratitude to OGI for offering them the privilege and backing to know the situation in the hospital. He reiterated that all major and minor wards of the referral health centre are terrible thus do not fit to be called a hospital.
Hon. Tommy therefore implored health care delivery authorities to pay special attention to the Kenema Government Hospital and recommended that everything there should be changed.
For his part, the surgeon expert attached to the Kenema Government Hospital believes his centre is the best in the country and would even match Connaught Hospital in Freetown if given the due attention as he referred to it as the strongest in the whole country.
Dr. Samuel Bonu Sesay used the tour to highlight constraints faced by the health centre pointing out that the hospital lacks beds, trained and qualified nurses and doctors, midwives and drugs which he added are causing serious setbacks to health care delivery in Kenema District.
Added to structures and facilities needed to be given facelift at the health centre, Dr. Sesay goes on to say are the Lassa Fever ward, tuberculosis wards, emphasising that the TB ward needs to be given more attention because it is dealing with a communicable disease.
He informed the OGI Acting National Coordinator Madam Khadija Sesay and MPs that the hospital is urgently in need of beds and mattresses adding; I am very much optimistic that Kenema hospital can do better than others in the country if given the required attention. Open Government Initiative Secretariat, Office of the President Ministry ofPresidential and Public Affairs State House Freetown.
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