By Mohamed T Massaquoi
The district medical officer in the southern Pujehun district public hospital, Dr David Bome has expressed concern over the fact that there is only one ambulance available for a district with 12 chiefdoms and 75 functioning peripheral health units.
Dr. Bome told Politico that the use of the only ambulance had greatly undermined the referral system especially during emergency cases involving pregnant women and other people.
"One ambulance cannot serve the medical sector properly, considering the terrible road network in the district," the DMO said. This, he went on, was hindering effective work.
Dr. Bome said that very recently the ambulance broke down and he reported the matter to the Pujehun District Council for maintenance. He said even though the council responded swiftly, the problem nonetheless created some embarrassment because referral cases were reported while the ambulance was under maintenance.
He said this and other challenges had greatly undermined the smooth running of the free health care in the district.
He said there were frequent referral cases from different locations and that it had always been difficult to prioritise the use of the ambulance. He commended Socfin Agricultural Company and the China Kingho Company for helping them with vehicles for the distribution of their bed nets in all their operational areas.
The DMO said that there were only four medical doctors - two of whom are CUUAM Italian doctors commonly known as Doctors with Africa - in the entire district. He said the Italian doctors were attached to the maternity hospital and thanked them profusely for their assistance.
(C) Politico 22/05/14
