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By: Lalo Jaiteh
Patients who spoke to The Voice newspaper have expressed their disappointment regarding the abrupt closure of the ASB German Clinic located at Latrikunda German by Ministry of Health,’
Private Clinic is one of the best in the country that takes care of the needs and aspirations of the patients who visits the Clinic in routine bases, said a patient who was at the Clinic for treatment yesterday.
The Ministry of Health on Tuesday October 8, 2019 issued a press statement informing the general public that Arbeiter Samariter Bund (ASB) Clinic at Latrikunda has been closed down with immediate effect and as such all clinical activities at the health facility has been stopped till further notice.
Ministry of Health said in the statement that the decision was arrived at after series of complications in patients referred from the clinic resulting in loss of lives which were established to be due to deficiency in the management of the cases and hence the management of ASB Clinic are urge to cease operations and transfer all in-patients to the nearest appropriate health facilities.
However, The Voice visited the facility at ASB German Clinic to stamp the opinion of patients. Patients at the facility were yesterday loitering around the premises of the clinic in total agony and stress.
Many told The Voice that Wednesday is a clinic day for their children and they were expecting to get treatments but only to be told by the management that the facility has been closed by the Ministry of Health for reasons best known to them.
“I have been coming to this Clinic for more than three years now and I have never experience any difficulties or complications here so far. The nurses have always been caring and friendly to me any time I come here for treatment,” said Bejay Jallow.
She disclosed to The Voice that many working mothers are frequent the ASB Clinic and closing it down will not go down well for them, noting that the clinic serve beyond the residents of Latrikunda and some come from far places within and outside KMC such as Brikama.
She appealed to Gambia government to engage the management of ASB Clinic in a bid to rectify any wrongs that may have trigger the decision of the Ministry of Health, adding that hundreds of women visited the clinic weekly for treatments and leaving the Clinic close will increase the sufferings of these women and their children.
“It’s so sad for me and my son whom I brought here for Clinic only to realize that the clinic is closed for duties.
This is my Clinic and the Doctor around is my Doctor who have been taking care of my treatment and that of my family for almost six years now. It’s very unfortunate that the Clinic has been closed on a very short notice without considering the ply of many patients who frequently visits clinic,” said Maimuna Baldeh.
She disclosed to The Voice that she has never experience any complication since she started having treatment at the facility, noting that the doctor in-charge of the Clinic is one of the best gynecologist in the country who understand the issues of women and closing the facility means many of the patients will find it difficult to get treatments from other Clinics.
”I have been coming here for many years but to my alter disappointment I came here today only to found that the facility is been closed down. I have never got any complication so far since I started getting treatment from this health facility and honestly I was shock when I was told that the Ministry of Health closed down this facility,” an anonymous patient told this reporter.
She told The Voice that she is a resident of Tanji and have been frequenting the health facility for eight years without encountering any difficulties, arguing that it is very wrong on the side of the Ministry of Health to abruptly shut down the Clinic without giving prior notice to the management of the clinic.
She said it would have been better if Ministry of Health notify the management of their position earlier so that this could have been communicated to the patients before they take long journeys only to realized that the facility is closed, while calling on state authorities to speedily open the facility for the interest of patients who visits the Clinic on a daily bases.