By Francis H. Murray
Sierra Leone's only trained and qualified forensic pathologist, Dr. Simeon Owizz Koroma has welcomed government’s recruitment of two other pathologists to the department.
“I was called and formally introduced to the new recruits. This is something I have been longing for and it will ease the pressure on me especially from the medical school... I will not be spending time now under the microscope and that will ease my problems in light of exhumations, burial, citification and more,” he said.
Dr. Koroma told Politico that he received the news with great relief and welcomed the move of the government especially considering the nature of constant pressure under which he had been working, adding that the recruitment was quite timely and would bring relief especially in the aspect of teaching at the University Teaching Complex.
He said that even though he would still be in charge of forensic pathology, the coming of the new pathologists meant that if he was engaged with something else such as testifying during court proceedings, autopsies would now be conducted in his absence.
Dr. Simeon Owizz Koroma, who had retired from active service, was contacted by the government to render medical assistance to the University of Sierra Leone Teaching Hospitals Complex (USLTHC) as well as in conducting all autopsies across the country.
The recruitment is made by the government of Sierra Leone together with the Board of the University of Sierra Leone Teaching Hospitals Complex (USLTHC) and aimed at strengthening the country’s teaching hospitals.
The two pathologists are expected to participate in the training and development of specialists at the University of Sierra Leone Teaching Hospitals Complex.
Authorities say the recruitment was a contract from the Ministry of Health and was aimed at not only recognising and addressing the many challenges faced by the country’s health sector but also reaffirming the government’s determination to ensure the ordinary citizen gets access to affordable health facilities.
The USLTHC was established in 2016 when the College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences (COMAHS) was yet to attain the status of training specialized medical doctors which resulted in the government sending doctors for specialized training abroad.
Such specialized training was very expensive and did not produce the desired number of specialists especially as many deliberately failed to return home after completion of training and consequently, the number of specialists in the country had constantly remained low.
In order to address the issue, the government enacted the Teaching Hospital Complex Administration Act of 2016 and the Sierra Leone Council of Postgraduate College of Health Specialties’ Act of 2016 that established a local postgraduate training programme as one of Government’s flagship programmes to increase the supply of Specialist Doctors in the country.
The two Nigeria pathologists, Professor Babatunde M. Duduyemi and Dr. Nnaemeka Ted Onyishi, are trained and qualified with wide-ranging experience.
This development is considered by many as having the tendency to make the country’s teaching hospitals much better as well as help in developing Sierra Leonean Specialist doctors.
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