By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
The Community Health Officer in-charge of the community health center in Kroo Bay has pleaded for support to fix the isolation center in the clinic.
David Nyuma Vanney, who spoke to Politico on Wednesday said they didn’t have a mattress to lay on the bed or doors to fix at both ends of the center.
“We have a temporary isolation center where we are supposed to keep patients before ambulance arrives for them. But we have a bed with no mattress. There are also no doors at the entrance and the exit,” he said.
“If NGO’s can come on board to make this place look like isolation center, it will be nice, because an isolation center shouldn’t just be a place to lay someone who is sick. The better the place looks, the more it will help the psychology of the patient,” he added.
When Politico visited the clinic on Wednesday, we found out that the isolation center is situated at a corner in the clinic, where a 10-12 meters wide makeshift structure was constructed with sticks and tarpaulin. A plastic table and chair could be seen at one end of the small room and bare iron bed at another end.
Vanney said the area is where they will isolate suspected COVID-19 patients if they have any. However, he said they haven’t had to use it yet.
The health official said the last time the isolation center in the clinic was used was during the Ebola outbreak, five years ago.
Kroo Bay is one of the most populated slum communities in the country.
Vanney said: “This is the only PHU in this community. This center is supposed tso serve 12,000 some hundred, but I am sure it is more than that.”
Clustered houses, poor sanitation, among a number of other deficiencies, could help COVID-19 thrive in this community in the event of an outbreak.
The clinic is the first and only line of defense in a community that desperately needs more.
Kroo Bay has had its fair share of outbreaks and environmental disasters, including a seasonal outbreak of cholera.
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