Commentary That Proposal by the Health Minister Health, many say, is wealth. A healthy nation therefore is one established to make progress in every facet of its development agenda. Sierra Leone being no exception is a nation that has made tremendous efforts to ensure a healthy co-existence especially so with instituting a free health care scheme. There has come a time in the country’s history when the health care delivery system needs serious consideration and a second look. This is based on the fact that the present health care system leaves much to be desired and has not presented the type of health care that befits a third world country where a free health care scheme had been introduced. If this is the situation, the new Minister of Health and Sanitation was right to have called for 12 Deputy Health Ministers who are to be deployed in every district of the country to enhance quality service delivery. The Ebola outbreak is not the first challenge that has befell the health care delivery system in Sierra Leone. Although the country had witnessed epidemics like lassa fever and malaria amongst others, the recent Ebola outbreak is more outrageous. When the Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) took over governance, the biggest encounter that faced Sierra Leone’s health care delivery system was to fight against the world’s deadliest disease, HIV/AIDS. The Kabbah led SLPP government diverted most of its resources to the established National Aids Secretariat (NAS) to minimize the spread of that disease. The All Peoples Congress (APC) administration headed by President Ernest Bai Koroma has been entangled by two outbreaks. The first disturbing though not to be compared to the recent epidemic was the cholera which claimed the lives of about 200 people in 2012. The Minister of Health and Sanitation at the time, Madam Zainab Bangura, went haywire to contain the outbreak. This also came in the wake of the free health care initiative, a situation that weakened that well thought-out dream. After the 2012 elections which the APC won by a land slide, the health care delivery system of the country became the thrust in President Koroma’s Agenda for Prosperity. The free health care received tumultuous applause from the international community for which President Koroma was lauded all over the world. But the Ebola outbreak became another setback to the health care delivery system. This time the Minister of Health and Sanitation, Miatta Kargbo cannot contain the disease at the appropriate time which led to her replacement with a professional in the health sector. Dr. Abu Bakarr Fofanah came in as Minister at a time the disease had overrun the country, the reason he called for additional 12 Deputies to team up with him to contain the virus. This proposal has sparked public debates that the country has not got enough resources to undertake such a venture. But many support the resolution of the Minister suggesting 4 deputies to be positioned in the 4 regions. Some members of the public have even suggested that personnel be placed in the different health sectors of that Ministry like in the Disease Prevention and Control, Capacity Building, Health Education, among others. A cross section of the public has even recommended that public officials start contributing in a National Health Care Insurance which could be operated on pay-as-you earn bases. By so doing, members of the public will have an opportunity to a favorable health care delivery system.
Posted on: Fri, 12 Sep 2014 14:21:38 +0000