After 71 years of struggling without a decent health facility, residents within and around Dodo Kortuma, 21 kilometres outside of Kailahun, opened a newly constructed Community Health Post (CHP) that will benefit more than 5,500 people, on Saturday 23 June 2018. The Health Post services eight catchment villages.
According to the Town Chief of Dodo Kortuma, Morrison Sidikie Jusu, the previous facility was constructed in 1954 and was recently demolished because it was in such a dilapidated state. The previous building had only six rooms and a parlour. He disclosed that the previous facility was constructed using sticks and boards that were infested with bugs and other insects.
The new Health Post features 17 rooms with several parlour areas and good sanitation facilities.
According to the Nurse in Charge of the CPH, Augustine Faya Jusu, they had delivered more than 1,500 babies since July 2013, with only one fatality in 2017.
He disclosed only three rooms were in use in the old building and they were using the other three rooms for staff accommodation.
“With the increasing numbers of pregnant women and lactating mothers, the staff and myself now rent an apartment outside the building,” Jusu said.
He maintained that with the current facility provided by SEND Sierra Leone with funding from Zochonis Charity through Christian Aid, they can now conveniently attend to patients as they now have sufficient accommodation to admit patients and take care of lactating and pregnant women.
“The construction of this 17-room CHP is welcome news and a dream come true for everyone in this community,” he said. However, according to Jusu, water supply remains a problem. Water must be fetched from a nearby stream.
He also noted that electricity is still a problem as the solar facility is not in good working order.
According to the Kailahun District Chair, Sahr Ahmed Kai-Konjor Lamin, commonly known as “Kekeh Sahr”, who handed over the facility as his first official duty, the CHP is welcome news for the community.
A native of Dodo Kortuma, the District Chair recalled as a boy how they used to visit the previous facility with his family even though there were limited services. He noted that maintenance must be a focus for the staff of the new CHP.
“The culture of maintenance in this country is like an illness for everyone,” he said. The District Chair promised to put measures in place to ensure the CHP has water facilities will engage SALWACO for the provision of water.
Speaking on behalf of SEND Sierra Leone, the Health Program Officer, Mattia James, said they have been working with the DHMT in addressing health issues in the district as people have been dying as a result of minor complications and other infections.
He disclosed they have constructed and rehabilitated several CHPs, PHUs within and around the Kailahun District since 2014 with funds from Zochonis Charity Trust and also from UNDP.
Steven Sahr Bundu, the SEND Program Officer, representing Christian Aid called on the DHMT to fulfill their own side of the project by proving equipment, drugs and furniture for the hospital.
AMK/25/6/18
By Alhaji Manika Kamara
Tuesday June 26, 2018.
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