The 21 years old Kidney victim while talking to this medium disclosed that he had suffered from Kidney ailment for the past eight years. He furthered that his family members had tried all avenues within the country for treatment but all their effort was unsuccessful. Juma ascertained that he was partially rescued by a philanthropist doctor at the Emergency hospital who took his sampling and sent them to a Kidney specialist in Ghana, who conducted the test and transported the result to the initial sender.

Juma confirmed that the result was positive for Kidney ailment and he was advised to raise the sum of Thirty Million Leones to facilitate his travelling.

When asked whether he had visited the Dialysis unit at the Connaught hospital for diagnosis and treatment, Juma responded that he went there with his test result and showed it to the doctor in charge of the Dialysis unit and that he was told by the doctor that the problem was above him and his department.

In an interview with the consultant of the Dialysis unit at the Connaught hospital, Madam Nyama Koroma, told this that medium that her unit was capable of taking care of all Kidney ailment and that there was no need for any Kidney patient to be flown out of this country for treatment.

 “We have all what it takes ranging from personnel to equipments to adequately take care of any Kidney ailment. So there is no need for anyone to be flown out of this country for Kidney treatment”. She added.

If the above statement was true, then, there was no need to raise Thirty Million Leones for the poor Juma Jalloh to travel to Ghana for treatment. The confusion here was who was saying the truth? According to Juma, he had been told by the doctor in charge of the Dialysis unit at the Connaught that they cannot handle his problem.

On the other hand, we had been told by the consultant at the Dialysis unit that they can handle all Kidney related issues.

However, this medium is joining the voice of the poor Kidney victim in calling on the general public to help him raise the said amount so as to enable him fly to Ghana for treatment. Please help save a life and you would be rewarded accordingly. Please call on +23288709559/+23276282413 just in case you want to help.

Discussion on Primary Health Care Service

By Idrissa Conteh

Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) together with Economic Forum has engaged health stakeholders to discuss the findings of the research conducted by Economic Forum on Primary Health Care Service delivery. 

OSIWA Country Officer, Joe Pembagbi said the report is going to be used as an advocacy tool to attract donors and partners. He mentioned that Open Society Initiative for West Africa has been working to ensure that authorities working in the health sector are accountable and that the people should be part of the monitoring process.

“We want to give citizens the opportunity to actively participate in the governance system of their health sector; we want citizens at the center of it because they are the beneficiaries.” Joe Pembagbi added.

Joe stated that the engagement with the health stakeholders is to deliberate on the key findings from the research and how they could solve some of the existing problems in the health sector.

The Consultant, Hon. Solomon Bangali said that the survey was conducted to capacitate communities with knowledge, based on tools to be able to hold public officials accountable in the delivery of health service.

  Hon. Solomon Bangali mentioned that it would provide the public access to information on resources flowing to local councils for primary health care services, adding that the survey was geared towards gauging the general perception of citizens on key primary health care delivery services.

Programme Coordinator, Nancy Sesay pointed out that their institution has been very much dedicated in ensuring that the health sector improved and that OSIWA would do all it can to get all authorities concern onboard.

Participants present called for the involvement of the community people as part of the monitoring team in order to mitigate corruption in the health sector.