By Landing Colley
Health centers and hospital management in Upper River Region have lamented on challenges facing their various institutions amid the Coronavirus pandeimic before the visiting National Assembly selected committee for disaster and health.
Speaking a visit to Sabi Health Center in Upper River Region (URR) Adama Saidy Bah Public Health Officer outlined some of the challenges facing the health as regarding to disaster. He said the last rainy season affected their OIC vehicle and most of the staff lost their documents due to floods.
He added that “another challenge is the mobility this health facility is without a proper ambulance, as we always join together to push it to start and does take sometimes start.”
Also, he said the health centre lacks laboratory ward and patients are always refers to Basse Health Center for laboratory test and this is very challenging for women because sometime they will go but they will not have the service.
“Accommodation is also one of the challenges that the staffs are facing, facemasks as we in covid-19 among other things,” he lamented
He disclosed that a staff was trained on sample collection but the materials are not available for them to take a sample!
According to him in area of covid-19 rules the compliance aspect is another issue sometimes people will come in without a facemask on or will remove it once they are in the hospital premises.
He described Sabi as a minor health center but serving almost 19 communities with a total population of fifteen thousand four hundred and twenty-nine and closer to nearby Senegal villages.
The committee members also visited Basse Health Centre who is facing similar challenges with regard to ambulance, accommodation; compliance issue as regards to covid-19 rules. The health officials at the center also demanded for treatment center as well as surgical department with personnel due to high rate of accidents as the main referral hospital in Bansang is very far.
At Bansang Hospital in Central River Region (CRR), Ebrima Badjie, a health official lamented on some of the challenges confronting the hospital.
Among other challenges outlined were lack of water supply from NAWEC, isolation centre which is without enough ventilation and also treatment center “which the Ministry in partnership with UN agency are currently working on to come up with regional treatment center.”
