By Binta Jaiteh
A team of pediatric surgeons and anesthetists from Humanity First UK has supported the Gambia to perform complex surgeries on children.
Dr. Hammad Khan, a consultant at the New Born Intensive Care and Medical Director of Humanity First UK who heads the team, in an interview with this reporter, said their purpose of visiting the country is to perform complex surgeries and teach Gambians about other surgical techniques and by extension provide direct care to the children in dire need of medical attention.
He said, his team was composed of specialist nurses and doctors from New Born Intensive Care who provided support directly to children at the hospital.
According to Dr. Hammad, Humanity First has been coming to The Gambia to provide help in medical services for the past ten years. “Our main focus is Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital ( EFSTH) where we supported different departments with the main concentration of supporting children services. We provide direct teaching to doctors and nurses by way of capacity building and also supplied equipment and training for the use of those devices. Our training is not only limited to EFSTH but rather elsewhere. For example last week, we trained some nurses at the Bwiam Hospital in provincial Gambia.”
The Dr. added that this is an international organization that was founded by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. It came into being as a result of the conflicts in the Balkans and the former Yugoslavia in which both Muslims and Christians were innocent victims of the war and needs help. After that many disasters happened around the world and Humanity First always intervened to assist humanity wherever it is necessary as the name implies. “We have intervened in Sub-saharan Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and the Pacific. And the Gambia too is no exception, we provided schools for adult education and computer literacy, supporting families, and also providing water for life projects among others. Humanity First Gambia and Humanity First UK are working hand in glove to ensure that all these projects are implemented and successful.”
Dr. Hammad Khan thanked the government of the Gambia particularly the Ministry of Health for their collaboration in ensuring that the MOU is honoured and fulfilled. He advised Gambians to take full ownership of the projects to ensure sustainability.
Yankuba Sinayoko, the Humanity First Gambia director of operations accompanied the team to Banjul and Bwiam respectively.
