By Kemo Cham
The efficiency of healthcare service delivery in Sierra Leone has once again come under scrutiny following the death of a man in controversial circumstances.
The incident in the southern district of Moyamba has sparked outrage, accusation and counteraccusation between the family of the deceased and the hospital management. While the wife of the deceased - Michael Juana - claimed he died after the generator in the Moyamba Government Hospital ran out of fuel while he was hooked on to a oxygen concentrator, the hospital’s authorities said his death had nothing to do with power outage.
Mr Juana, a civil society activist, reported at the hospital on Saturday complaining stomach ache. According to his widow, Agnes Lamin Juana, the hospital authorities asked her to buy fuel for the generator to power the oxygen concentrator. She said she was asked to buy three gallons of fuel, which is equivalent to 15 liters and costing around Le127, 500.
Mrs Juana told Politico that she was already wondering how to pay for a Le230, 000 medication bill the hospital had handed her for the treatment of her sick husband.
The Moyamba Government Hospital, located in Moyamba Town, is the main referral health facility in the district which is located in the southern region of the country. Because the entire district is not connected to the national grid, the hospital relies on generator for power.
Sylvanus Vann Fannah, a right campaigner with the Moyamba based Dream Sierra Leone, blamed the hospital management for the death of Mr Juana. He told Politico that he and a number of colleagues initially contributed to buy the 3 gallons of fuel as requested by the hospital, adding that the generator was turned off when that fuel was exhausted. Shortly after that, he said, Mr Jauna passed away.
“If that fuel was there, I don’t think he would have died,” Mr Fannah said in a telephone interview from Moyamba Town.
“A hospital like this should have 24hours light,” he added, noting that it’s the fundamental rights of every human being to access healthcare services.
According to the activist, there have been frequent reports of shortage of fuel at the hospital, in spite of the fact that the management is provided adequate resources to run the facility. Fannah added that they have also frequently got reports that the hospital staff demand patients to buy fuel to facilitate services.
But Dr Gregory Foray, the Moyamba Government Hospital Medical Superintendent, rejected these allegations. He said the hospital had enough fuel that it was impossible that its staff could ask family members to buy fuel. He said if the hospital couldn’t provide services, they would refer a patient to another facility, in line with procedure.
Dr Foray explained that usually they have their generator on for 18 hours daily, and that whenever they have a patient who needed to be on oxygen concentrator it can go for as far as it takes to supply power.
“The death could not have been attributed to the lack of fuel. There is no way we can ask a family member to buy fuel for our generator,” he said, referring to Mr Jauna’s case.
Dr Foray also said the late man spent less than 24 hours in the facility, noting that he had a whole lot of issues that could have led to his death. He wouldn’t explain further, citing patient-doctor confidentiality.
The Hospital Superintendent however said he had mounted an investigation to get to the bottom of the issue.
© 2019 Politico Online
