By: Nyima Sillah
The Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital (EFSTH), Dr. Ammar Al Jafari, has requested for help to raise the standard of EFSTH, consign the need for overseas treatment to history and to exhaustively deal with other challenges beseting the Gambia’s main referral hospital.
“I have put up good plans to improve the hospital, minimize mortality, and avert overseas treatment. To achieve this plan, I need full support from the government, and private institutions. If the private institutions are interested, they can come. We signed[an] MoU to do some business inside the hospital and to help me get more machines,” the CMD told The Voice in an exclusive interview yesterday.
He explained that overseas treatment would be avertedwithin two years if the plan he designed is supported, adding that he intends to improve all the medical services in the hospital between 2024-2025.
“If I have support, I will make it one of the best hospitals in West Africa but I need support from the Ministry of Finance, Central Bank, World Bank, UNDP, WHO, GPA, GRA and all other government and private institutions. I need everybody to support me in achieving my plans. I promise if this is done, no Gambian patient will travel for overseas treatment after two years,” Dr. Jafari asserted.
The CMD pointed out that he plans to improvetreatment for liver, heart and kidney complications and other diseases that may require treatment outside the country in a space of one year.
“We have medical and surgery out-patient’s clinic. My other plan is to renovate the out-patient clinic. I want to make it in an excellent situation that would be modern standard and comfortable like a private clinic, buy new CT scan machines like any other country, buy new furniture for the A&E, and renovate the lab,” stated Dr. Jafari.
According to him, Senegal has many new modern machines, including CT scans, adding that the CT scan at EFSTH is very old and that he wants to buy a new CT scan for imaging of the heart.