“Let us reduce the mortality rate to 30%” —Health Minister urges healthcare workers
The Minister of Health and Sanitation Dr. Austin Demby has expressed satisfaction with the remarkable reduction of the high mortality rate from 100% in 2021 to 60% in 2022 at the Ola During Children’s Hospital and has urged the healthcare workers to reduce the infant mortality rate to 30%. According to the Health Minister, the recent performance of the two referral hospitals is a testimony of change and that the Government will continue to support the management of the referral hospitals to meet the high demand of the people. He made this call at the Ola During Children’s hospital in Freetown on Wednesday 10 August during a thank-you tour visit after one week of nationwide strike actions by doctors.
Addressing dozens of health workers, the Health Minister thanked them for their sacrifices, stating that the striking situation could have been really worse, but thank God that the doctors have decided to return to work after a week of intensive negotiations with the government. He said the nation is grateful to the health workers and that there are a lot of mothers who are thankful to them and parents also who are thankful to them therefore he added, they are dealing with the vulnerable.
He re-echoed to the doctors who were on strike that anytime there is disagreement and difficulty, let them figure a way to work and resolve them and ensure that patients are not victims of the circumstances. Dr. Demby explained that in their negotiations with the Doctors, the two major requests made by Doctors were fuel and an increase in salary.
He disclosed that the Government has set aside 9.2 billion Leones separately to recover fuel for doctors for all grades 9 and above. He informed that the second issue was the COVID-19 risk allowances for doctors have now been added to salaries. “So I came here today to say thank you, thank you for your relentless sacrifices, and in the middle of all these, our patients are paramount, our patients are important to us so, I think going forward we should not lose focus on that, we should be faithful to it. You are not working in ideal circumstances, you are working in very difficult circumstances, so please let us prioritize the welfare of our patients” he pleaded.
Dr. Ayeshatu M. Mustapha, Medical Superintendent, Ola During Children’s Hospital, disclosed that a total of 22, 639 patients were seen and treated and of which 15,950 were admitted. She continued that for the period 1st January to the 31st of June this year, a total of 7,916 patients have received treatment of which 5,920 have been admitted .
“Depending on the time of year the average patients per day is between 150 and over 190 and a third of these patients require intensive monitoring” she revealed.
She pointed out that their top causes for admission are complicated malaria, severe respiratory task infection, severe acute malnutrition infection, severe Armenia, and magnates. She continued that to ensure best practice and that their staff is kept up-to-date, the hospital conducts regular in-service training for doctors and nurses and post-graduate training for pediatricians. She said in-service training includes short courses and long courses for doctors and nurses.
In his words, the Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Sartie Kanneh acknowledged the tremendous efforts done by the doctors to save lives, noting that their visit was to realize the gap that actually exists in terms of “understanding each other for us who are there and our most valuable people who are the patients” he said.
By Mohamed Amara Gando
