By Allieu Sahid Tunkara
Health Advisor to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Jason Lee, has warned that any delay in the implementation of the Service Level Agreement (SLA) would hamper the Sierra Leone government’s effort to achieving zero Ebola infections.
The SLA, unveiled officially last Friday, is a new policy within the Ministry of Health and Sanitation. It is geared towards sharing the mandate of ensuring quality health service delivery between the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS) and local and international Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs).
Under this arrangement, the MoHS would be in a better position to coordinate all NGOs and other implementing partners in the health sector so that the desired objectives of ensuring quality health service would be achieved, officials say.
The UNDP Health Advisor issued the warning during the launching ceremony at the Miatta Conference Hall at Youyi Building in Freetown.
As the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) re-emerges in Liberia, Mr Lee noted, the Sierra Leone government should double up efforts to speedily implement the agreement so that the virus could be stopped.
‘’The new policy must be made flexible so that adjustment could be made during implementation stage,’’ Lee said.
As gaps in the health sector have already been identified, he added, his institution was determined to allocate the available resources to the health sector to promote efficiency in service delivery. He said the devastating effect of the Ebola epidemic called for the improvement of the health system and that the launching of the agreement went towards that direction.
In her statement, Head of the Department for International Development (DFID) in Sierra Leone, Sally Taylor, referred to the new plan as a prioritised one in the health sector that his institution would be looking forward to. She called on the public to speed up the fight against the Ebola epidemic.
“The Ebola fight requires speed and pragmatism,” she said.
In the post Ebola recovery plan, Mrs Taylor said, several critical issues bordering on the improvement of the health sector would have to be paid attention to. Reliable source of water supply, maintenance of sanitation and effective infection control, among others, are issues government must pay attention to, she said.
Chairman of the occasion, Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service, Dr Ernest Surrur, told the audience that the new policy would strengthen the long standing partnership between the MoHS and the NGO community. He said the policy would also enhance accountability, transparency and coordination in the health service delivery.
Coordination at all levels in the health system was necessary since this would help solve the problem of fragmented systems in the MoHS, he said.
“The policy can succeed if backed up with a strategic plan and coordination,” he stated.
In a power-point presentation, Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Dr Brima Kargbo, disclosed that a compact health agreement was signed on May 2010 by the MoHS and partners which was guiding the partners in the health sector as to how they should come in to help and which areas to prioritise.
The May 2010 agreement achieves little result as the work of the implementing partners or the NGOs was still uncoordinated, resulting to low quality health service delivery in the country, Kargbo said.
This has necessitated the formulation of the new health plan which, the CMO added, would solve the problem of improper coordination in the health system.
But in spite of the setting up of the new agreement, the CMO could not rule out challenges in the health sector that he feared would still continue to undermine the work of health officials.
“Human resource gap as a result of the deaths of health workers is one of the key challenges in the health system,” he said.
Dr Kargbo however expressed confidence that the new health plan would go a long way to overcome some of the challenges as whatever partner expressing investment interest in the health sector would be guided by the priority areas of the MoHS.
President Ernest Bai Koroma, in his key note address, said the Ebola epidemic had exposed gaps in the country’s health sector. But despite this situation, the President said, the country was on the brink of winning the fight against the epidemic.
As the Ebola virus calls for 100% eradication, the president assured that his government would not rest until everybody got the right message of not touching the sick, not burying the dead, among others. He said his government had put in place a comprehensive recovery plan that would address the safety needs of hospital staff and patients in the country’s health facilities.
The President referred to the lack of coordination between the MoHS and its partners as the key factor for the poor health service in the country, and he expressed confidence in the new health plan which he described as a strong basis for the improvement of the health sector. He however expressed disappointment at the state of the health system in the country in spite of the provision of the resources to capacitate the MoHS.
“The health system constitutes a 3rd of the government staff, more than half of the civil society organisations pay attention to the health sector, with all the players in the health system and with all the resources in the health sector, why is the health sector not delivering quality medical service,” the president wondered.
(C) Politico 07/07/15
