By Prince J. Musa in Kenema
The international medical charity, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) hopes to help cut down on Sierra Leone’s high maternal and infant mortality with the construction of a 63-bed capacity hospital in the eastern Kenema District.
The facility was inaugurated on Friday at a ceremony marking the conclusion of the first phase of a project that is designed to cater for both babies and mothers in a country with some of the worst healthcare facilities.
Sierra Leone has the world's highest maternal mortality rate, according to the latest available World Health Organization (WHO) figures (2015) at 1, 360 deaths per 100,000 live births. It is also among the top 10 countries in the world with the highest rates of infant mortality, with one in five children dying before their fifth birthday.
Kenema, with a population of over 600, 000, is one of the districts that fuels these statistics as home to some of the most deprived communities in the country with limited access to reliable healthcare services.
In the 2017 Maternal Death Surveillance and Response report of the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS), Kenema was ranked as the district with third highest reported maternal deaths in the country, with 60 cases.
Women in Sierra Leone have a 1 in 17 lifetime risk of dying due to pregnancy or childbirth, according to WHO, which also says that maternal deaths account for 36% of all deaths among women aged 15-49 in the country.
The new MSF hospital is located in Hangha community in the Nogowa Chiefdom, some two miles outside the headquarters town of Kenema. Located on a 25-acre piece of land, the facility comprises standard medical units including an emergency room, a blood bank, a laboratory, an intensive pediatric care unit, and an inpatient therapeutic feeding center. There is also a general pediatric ward and an isolation ward for suspected Lassa fever cases.
Kenema and the larger eastern region of Sierra Leone are known to be endemic to Lassa Fever, which is a hemorrhagic fever disease which is somehow similar to the deadly Ebola virus disease which ravaged Sierra Leone between 2014 and 2016.
Minister of Health and Sanitation (MoHS), Dr Alpha Tejan Wurie, said the construction of the new MSF facility was a milestone in the country's healthcare system. He said in a speech that the initiative was in line with the development goals of President Julius Maada Bio's government.
"Improving the healthcare system is part of the President's vision of improving the human resource base of the country,” Dr Wurie told an audience that comprised national and local authorities on the grounds of the new facility.
He urged the local population to ensure that they reciprocate the gesture of the charity by ensuring security for the facility and its sustenance.
Besides increasing the country’s hospital bed capacity, this MSF facility is also billed to provide employment for dozens of Sierra Leoneans when it’s fully operational.
Ahead of Friday’s inauguration ceremony, dozens of local nurses and medical workers underwent training in specific areas of healthcare for young children.
According to MSF, the conclusion of the pediatric unit is the first phase of the project. Construction of this phase, which began in 2015, concluded in early 2019 and the hospital began admitting patients in March.
Statistics provided by the charity show that during the course of the last three months, 3,092 patients have been triaged and 449 admitted into the inpatient therapeutic feeding center, while 253 were admitted in the general pediatric ward. Some 23 suspected Lassa fever patients were admitted in the isolation unit.
Dr. Bertrand Draguez, President of MSF, joined the country team for the landmark inauguration. He told the audience that Sierra Leone’s high mortality rate and weakened healthcare system, as was exposed by the Ebola epidemic, inspired the establishment of the facility.
MSF has a long history in Sierra Leone, having served since the 1991-2002 civil war when it was attending to injured and displaced people.
The charity played a major role in the global response to the West African Ebola epidemic which claimed over 11, 000 lives out of nearly 30, 000 cases recorded mainly in Sierra Leone and its neighbours, Guinea and Liberia. The three countries were the most affected by the viral hemorrhagic fever disease.
Kenema is one of the regions in Sierra Leone hardest hit by Ebola which devastated the healthcare system.
Dr. Draguez said improving the capacity of the local health workforce was one of the main priorities of the charity in Sierra Leone, citing the training of a total of 160 MSF hospital staff in Kenema District in 2018. The charity, he went on, had also enrolled 50 community health nurses in Ghana for a 24-month-long scholarship programme designed to upgrade them to the status of State Registered Nurses and Midwives.
The MSF president revealed that another batch of 12 nurses from the MSF facility and the health ministry were on the verge of leaving for Ghana for an 18-month-long course on anaesthetics.
Dr. Draguez said that besides the new hospital, MSF was also providing support to 13 primary healthcare units in three chiefdoms in the district: Gorama Mende, Wandor and elsewhere within Nogowa.
The charity is also closely collaborating with the District Health Management Team (DHMT), particularly in the area of sanitation, which has been credited for the reduction in maternal and infant deaths in communities they are involved in.
"MSF aims to re-enforce the district’s healthcare system and to reduce Sierra Leone’s child and maternal mortality and morbidity," Dr. Draguez said.
MSF officials say the next phase of the project entails the establishment of an X-ray department, which is expected to be followed by the completion and opening of the maternity unit which is expected to increase the bed capacity, and contains an operating theater for caesarean section.
(c) 2019 Politico Online
