By Sulaiman Jalloh
President Rtd. Brig. Juluis Maada Bio has, during the State Opening of Parliament at the Parliament Building on Tower Hill in Freetown on Tuesday, 6th August, 2024, outlined achievement made in the health sector in the last five years.
President Bio disclosed that his government has been able to recruit about five thousand health workers across the country, increased the number of doctors to over six thousand, and invested in capacity building to improve health care efficiency. The President furthered that the country has, over recent years, made significant improvements in child and maternal health. “Sierra Leone has met the 80% global standard for Special Care Baby Units in every district, with survival rate at these facilities at 87%,” President Bio disclosed. He further promised to build more special Care Baby Units in the remaining two districts, Karene and Falaba, adding that new programmes that will focus on reducing child mortality and maternal mortality rates have been established.
According to President Bio, his government through the partnership with Mercy Ship has provided about five thousand (5,000) free surgeries to citizens including other Public-Private Partnerships projects that are ongoing. He spoke on the Public-Private Cost Recovery Pilot Scheme and mobile medical services through Hospitals-On Wheels, which, according to him, has further reduced healthcare costs for patients countrywide. President Bio further disclosed that that introducing the first WHO-approved malaria vaccine, with 1.7 million doses are available until 2025, and routine HPV vaccinations for girls aged ten have strengthened the country’s health outcomes. He maintained that additional projects, including but not limited to, the construction of the Waterloo Hospital, the 166-bed Hospital Centre of Excellence in Kono, a new midwifery school in Kenema, therapeutic oxygen plants, regional laboratory facilities, the rehabilitation of the obstetric fistula operating theatre in Bo, and installing solar electrification in 6 Hospitals and 200 Peripheral Health Units (PHUs) including the improvement of the antiretroviral treatment, and the Government’s multi-sectoral response to HIV-AIDS also form parts of the achievement in the health sector.
The President furthered that healthcare infrastructure investments have increased through collaboration with development partners, including JICA, Partners in Health (PIH), and the United Arab Emirate (UAE) Government, pointing out the rehabilitation of sixteen (16) Government Hospitals and completing a new hospital in Jojoima, a 110-bed field hospital in Port Loko, including the one hundred and forty-two (142)-bed Julius Maada Bio Pediatric Centre of Excellence in Lumley, Freetown. He also emphasized the effort made by his government in handling the COVID-19 pandemic. “We are committed to broadening access to clean water and sanitation facilities through ongoing urban and rural water supply projects. Efforts to protect water catchment areas and promote waste management have prevented major disease outbreaks,” the President asserted.
