He added that the Health Minister Dr. Alhaji Alpha Tejan Wurie is a visionary leadership who has what it takes to translate that vision into a reality and make things better in the health sector for generations to come. The CMO was speaking at a recent retreat for the health sector workers held in Bo City.
The Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS) with support from World Health Organization (WHO) has concluded a three-day 2018 Health Sector Retreat at the Kobeibu Hotel in Bo, southern Sierra Leone. Earlier at the opening ceremony, Health and Sanitation Minister, Dr. Alpha TejanWurie underscored the importance of the retreat, stating that it is geared towards creating an insight of the work of the Ministry. He informed his audience that over the years donors have been pouring funds into the Health Ministry, but that it is clear that millions of Dollars have been put in the health sector, but yet they continue to lose vital statistics and women continue to die at very high rate. Dr. Wurie disclosed that in Dakar, he was supposed to chair a special Technical Committee on Health and Population Study and that statistics demonstrated that Sierra Leone is almost last in every major mapping. He told the gathering that the retreat was specifically for them to ask what they are doing and how they are going about it.
He added that looking at them, he knows they have the solutions, and strongly believes that by the time they end the three days retreat, they would have charted the course that the country would benefit from. WHO Health Systems Advisor, Selassi Aman Dalmeida said the retreat should be seen as one of several steps toward the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in Sierra Leone. He said the ethos of the government of Sierra Leone under the New Direction is to increase access for all the population, particularly mothers, children and the elderly to quality health services in an equitable and efficient manner. Selassi Aman Dalmeida reiterated that the Ministry of Health and Sanitation is keen in delivering on the president’s New Direction and has therefore galvanized its effort to prioritize activities to enhance the quality of health services for all people living in Sierra Leone. He said the participation of other government ministries, departments and agencies and development partners in the retreat is a laudable step since health represents a broad sector that is influenced by various social, economic and political determinants.
