By Mohamed K Turay
Residents and health workers in Kailahun District, in eastern Sierra Leone, have complained bitterly to officials of Health Alert Sierra Leone about the poor health system in that part of the country.
They lodged their complaint during a meeting organized by Health Alert Sierra Leon at the conference hall of the Kailahun Social Welfare office.
The meeting was aimed at promoting social accountability in the health sector in which indigenes of Kailahun were encouraged to bring out burning issues affecting the health sector.
The engagement attracted officials from the District Health Management Team (DHMT), the District Health Sister (DHS), District Council officials, the district matron, the media, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), pregnant women, lactating mothers, youths, market women, the physically challenged, Okada and Kekeh riders.
Before presenting findings of a survey carried out last year by Health Alert’s District Coordinator targeting Community Health Centres in Bandajuma, Buedu and Jojoima; Health Alert Executive Director, Victor Lansana Koroma, informed stakeholders and participants that the engagement was geared towards increasing domestic financing to support the health sector in Sierra Leone.
He also noted that the engagement was also aimed at establishing a foundation for collaboration and information sharing on the current status of the health sector in Kailahun District.
Victor Lansana Koroma said that the findings were not a witch-hunt but rather offering key stakeholders a comprehensive view of the CHCs challenges and successes from the three aforementioned community health centres.
The findings, he noted, were also to facilitate collaborations so as to address the challenges and improve the health care quality in that part of the country.
The Health Alert Executive Director stated that the report revealed that most of the health centres visited indicated that most of the staff were without pin-codes. He averred that the district only had one ambulance which had been parked for the last four months due to lack of maintenance.