One would think that The Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital (EFSTH) being the main referral hospital of the country which receives critical patients from the other health facilities in the country and also being a place where Doctors and other health workers are expected to be trained on the best standards of patient care will be given due attention by any government that considers itself fit to preside over the affairs of the people.
Unfortunately for our country this has not been the case under the former government of Yahya Jammeh and so far nothing has changed under the new Coalition Government of Mr Adama Barrow either. Since the new government took over and the subsequent appointment of the health Minister the situation in EFSTH which was inherited from the former regime is getting worse by day without any effort been seen to done by the government to improve it. Almost two months after her appointment we are yet to know who our health minister is. She didn’t come even once to see how things are going on and to know the problems we are faced with daily in our work. It is said that knowing a problem is one step towards solving it.
The prevailing situation under our current Chief Medical Director Professor Khalil is deplorable to say the least. That man who is already senile needs to be allowed to go home and have a good rest and sleep before his final departure to the next world which all of us are awaiting instead of being tasked to head an important institution like a teaching hospital when our country and the hospital is not lacking young, intelligent, vibrant and patriotic professionals like Dr Samateh and Dr Roberts, just to name a few.
The unwise decision of making professor Khalil as the CMD of EFSTH was made during the time of Yahya Jammeh. I believed they settled on professor Khalil who was unable to even effectively manage a Unit of the hospital [The laboratory] because of the fact that none of our able professionals at the time were willing to accept an offer due to the irrational behavior of president Jammeh who is fun of firing people from their jobs for no good reason.
Thanks to professor Khalil and Yahya Jammeh the whole hospital [EFSTH] is in shambles. There is a shortage of almost everything ranging from bulbs for lighting the rooms, thread, oil and sewing needles, spare parts for very essential and expensive machines, Bed sheets for patients, absorbent gauze and other essential consumables. How can we continue to operate under this condition without the tools to do our work and yet expected to deliver quality services to our people? What kind of Doctors and health professionals do we expect to produce when they are learning and being trained in such an environment?
Whenever one makes a request to the hospital authorities, the CMD in particular for almost anything the only response is that there is no money; Full stop. He is not seen to be doing any effort after that.
The coalition Government of Mr Barrow needs to act fast now if they have any desire to redeem the situation in this very important national institution unless if they intend to have it closed.
From: A Concerned Staff
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