By Sulaiman Jalloh

In a move to complement the effort of government in providing free medical health care to Sierra Leoneans, Joseph Ngoniyela Kobba, program manager, Rural Youth Development Organisation Sierra Leone has on Friday, August 16, 2024 donated assorted medical items valued about forty-five thousand United States Dollars ($45,000) to the Connaught Hospital in Freetown. The donated items included but not limited to Venlafaxine 75mg tabs, Diclofenac Jell, examination gloves, Ultra sound machine, Doxycycline oral, Synthroid tabs.

Mr. Kobba said his donation is to support the government to complement the government of Sierra Leone in its free health service in the country, noting as a citizen it is his responsibility to contribute to the development of the African country, adding Connaught hospital is well-being the one of the country’s largest referral hospitals. He stated that, “the medicine will improve the lives of the sick who are being brought into this hospital, and the medical supplies can be used to administer treatment to the patient”, pointing out that it will add a huge impact.

According to the program manager, his organisation has put modalities that have been put in place to monitor the health centre in making sure the medical items are not sold to patients in the hospital or outsiders. “We visit those hospitals; we track the use of these medical supplies and in return we do a statistic on what was donated and what has been used” he asserted. He added that they are not only targeting Connaught hospital but also in Bo and Bonthe districts and they will be targeting the Serrabo catholic hospital among other health centres in the Bumbeh Ngawu chiefdom. He used the occasion to call on the medical practitioners to use the donated medical items for the intended purpose.

Speaking on behalf of the hospital, Mrs. Nyama Kamara the Dialysis Nurse consultant at the hospital expressed satisfaction for the donation, saying it is timely and that the donation means a lot. The consultant promised that the donated medical items and medicine will be used for the intended purpose and that her patients come first. Mrs. Kamara said the medical items are very useful to both the medical staff and the patients while thanking Mr. Kobba and his team for the gesture and call for more support.

Mr. Kobba also thanked the Christian Relief Services in Conjunction with Map International based in the United States of America who shipped the supplies into the country for the people of Sierra Leone.