The United Nations Agency for International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Sierra Leone is seeking diaspora medical practitioners to return home and help in hospitals.
In a survey of diaspora Sierra Leone health care workers mapping conducted by IOM in 2013-2014, there are currently over 62,000 Sierra Leoneans with medical experience residing in the UK, Canada, the United States, and Germany alone. This mapping exercise revealed an overwhelmingly positive response from respondents that indicated a willingness to contribute to the development of Sierra Leone’s health sector.
According to the Human Resources Health Profile (updated in September 2016)
Sierra Leone has four medical Doctors per 10,000 inhabitants and 48% of the health sector workforce is unsalaried. There is an overall gap of 8,481 between the currently existing health professional’s level in Sierra Leone and the BPEHS (Basic Package Essential Health Service) staffing norms recommendation.
Also, the distribution of clinical health care across the country is unbalanced with a ratio of 20.2 per 10,000 inhabitants in the Western Urban Area district as compared to 3.8 per 10,000 inhabitants – second to the last in the country rankings – and 0.05 medical doctor or specialist per 10,000 inhabitants in Koinadugu district -which represents the lowest in the country.
According to the IOM Project Manager for Strengthening Sierra Leonean National Health Care Capacity through Diaspora Engagement, Kunikazu Akao, the inducement of skilled and professional diaspora to return home and help their home country is a tested approach that has been tested and replicated by IOM in many countries such as Ghana, Somalia, Bangladesh, Yemen etc.
He said it is a win-win approach that is based on a country receiving necessary support from its nationals based abroad thus accruing benefit to the government and the population.
Through this approach, he said affordable and quality health care services can be delivered to a large numbers of people including: children, old people, pregnant women and girls.
IOM is seeking Midwives for Kurobola Community Health Center, Mongo Gbendugu Community Health Centre in the Koinadugu District to conduct frequent outreach preventive promotional and curative activities.
He added that an obstetrician or gynecologist and surgical doctor is also needed for the Kabala Government Hospital.
He said the Ebola Virus Disease did not only put pressure on Sierra Leone’s medical facilities but it also revealed a staggering weakness in the country’s health system and infrastructure. This weakness persists up till today even though EVD had been declared over by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Koinadugu, the project officer said is the largest and the least developed district in Sierra Leone with remote, underdeveloped and weak health infrastructure that has negatively impacted the population of this district.
It is for this reason that IOM is proposing a series of measures to be implemented under this project towards redressing the gaping deficiency in Koinadugu’s health system in order to improve the health care structure of the district and expect that this will contribute positively to the economic well-being of the people.
He said IOM is supporting the deployment of experienced diaspora health care workers to Sierra Leone in order to increase the availability, quality and the safety of health care delivery in Koinadugu district and the reinforcement the capacity of the local health workforce through in-service training of health professionals.
According to Human Resource Health Sierra Leone, the deaths of experienced health care workers and those who supported the health system administration, was a compounding deficit that will take a “generation of education, training, and experience” to replace.
IOM believes that experienced diaspora health care workers who can speak local languages and understand local customs as well as behavioural mind-sets can be engaged in capacity building of health delivery services, training, and mentoring in Sierra Leone, Kunikazu Akao said.
IOM he said will provide travelling cost, accommodation and allowance for any Diasporas wishing to give back their medical service to Sierra Leone and can also negotiate on their stay from one to three months.
By Saidu Bah
Friday May 26, 2017.
http://167.71.187.47/2017/05/26/iom-advert/