While it is the nation and people’s greatest compliment to embrace the construction of a couple of major hospitals that are ideally located at strategic places, it is also imperative to state it that those marvelous structures are not what make hospitals, but the trained manpower and equipment.
Mr. President, while equally so that there exists not an inch to doubt your very hard effort to ensure a quality healthcare delivery system for the people, we salute you profoundly for such national development. But let’s quickly draw your undivided attention to the unshakable reality that hospitals become meaningful health service hub when the latter (hospitals) are not only beautiful structures but well-furnished and equipped with the necessary facilities, drugs in voluminous supply, requisite modern equipment that can diagnose, track and expose critical health problems along with trained health workers, surgeons, nurses and specialized medical doctors stationed there can one boast of the sound system.
In the same vein, they (workers, nurses, and specialized medical doctors)must be well-paid decent living salaries as an encouragement to keep them happy on base with a vested interest to professionally serve, in order to dissuade professional flight thereby fertilizing uncontrolled brain drain in motion in the medical sector.
Besides, most of the big hospitals and health centers established long before the inception of this CDC’s regime must equally ensure that they are properly revamped in a meaningful and professional way and manner so that care and serious attention are accorded to them to become useful service providers instead of abandoning them to wreck and decay totally.
It is sad to say that most of these hospitals are not equipped with both trained manpower and equipment. For instance, the nation’s largest referral hospital, John F. Kennedy memorial hospital does not have advanced equipment to treat people there. Rather, they have to fly people outside the country for advanced retreatment.
But on the other hand, too, many of these same nurses and doctors have their private clinics and pharmacies where they at times refer patients to get medication. This also undermines the efforts of the government.
This must be the government’s cardinal obligation, commitment, and responsibility to consistently and persistently supply the various medical entities with the most requisite support to keep them actively serviceable wherein people plagued with health problems can seek immediate medication or treatments with positive results as would be done for those with the financial resources to seek medical attention abroad.
When this is done, the nation, people including all those from neighboring lands as well as those far and near will declare them as people-centered hospitals and not just being proclaimed as just mere beautiful gigantic structures totally incapacitated to thoroughly cater to the health needs of the craving on bended knees ill-health solution seekers who will soon be classified as a cup of tea without sugar or by extension, a sifter struggling against difficult odds to store water which is completely impossible and unachievable.
This syndrome must not even saddle and eclipse these fantastic medical structures most needed to provide medical services while being located in strategic places as, and at connecting points, will also allow or enable people from outside the country based on proximity, to converge on these available medical centers for actual treatments for their medical problems.
Having said this, The New Republic Newspaper says hats off to Mr. President for venturing into such profound national-people-driven-development. But you need to press hard on the Health minister and hospital administrators to do the right thing.
Alphonso Toweh
Has been in the profession for over twenty years. He has worked for many international media outlets including: West Africa Magazine, Africa Week Magazine, African Observer and did occasional reporting for CNN, BBC World Service, Sunday Times, NPR, Radio Deutchewells, Radio Netherlands. He is the current correspondent for Reuters
He holds first MA with honors in International Relations and a candidate for second master in International Peace studies and Conflict Resolution from the University of Liberia.