By Sorie Ibrahim Fofanah
171 Sierra Leonean healthcare professionals, ranging from doctors, nurses, and physiotherapists have been trained by the medical charity Mercy Ships, according to the Country Director, Dr. Sandra Lako.
The doctor and her team were updating Journalists at the Ministry of Health and Sanitation in Freetown on Tuesday 25th June on the work they have done so far during their first medical field service in Sierra Leone in the last ten months.
She highlighted how they have invested in education and medical training- important aspects of Marcy Ship’s work. She maintained that they intend to strengthen the surgical workforce in Sierra Leone.
She expressed delight to have completed what she described as a successful field operation in Sierra Leone, noting that they have been in Sierra Leone from 22nd August 2023 until 18th June 2024. “So following ten months’ of tremendous impacts and partnership, we have ended our first ten months’ filed service of partnership in Sierra Leone,” she pointed out. She said they would now have to leave and then return in August 2024 after brief maintenance on the ship, for another ten months’ service following an appeal made by President Julius Maada Bio for an extension.
Speaking on what they achieved, the doctor said they have delivered life-transforming surgeries and training that will have a lasting impact. “Over the past ten months, we have seen life-saving transformations through free and safe surgeries that were performed onboard the Global Mercy Ship,” Dr. Lako said.
She disclosed that a total of 1,979 surgeries were performed on 1,728 patients, some of which she noted did receive multiple surgeries due to the extent of the conditions that they had.
One of the patients she mentioned during her presentation was Alex whom she said had had a difficult swollen jaw for seven years before they met him, but that in October last year, he did receive free surgery onboard the ship. She expressed her delight that Alex received a life-transforming surgery.
Another patient she talked about was Lucy, 14 years old, with a facial tumor that she is now free from after surgery by the charity ship.
She emphasised that the surgeries they have done have impacted my people.
In his statement, the Deputy Chief Medical Officer in the Ministry of Health, Mustapha Kabba, thanked the ship’s team for providing “free” surgical services, saying the arrival of the mercy ship was a very “big boost” for the health sector in the country. “We have enjoyed this goodwill from Mercy Ship for ten months,” Kabba stated.
He also mentioned President Bio’s request for another ten months of surgical care in the country, to which the people at mercy ships have consented.
He thanked the team for also providing training to Sierra Leonean healthcare professionals, which he believed could help to provide critical surgical services when the ship would have left. Kabba however noted that as a result many surgeries previously conducted in private hospitals can now be done in government hospitals.
Mercy Ships as an organization provides free surgeries to those with little access to safe medical care. It is an international Christian-based organization working with in-country partners.
For 30 years, Mercy Ships has visited Sierra Leone six times. Through these field services, many lives have been transformed.
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