The Liberian Destiny Debaters hosted VP Joseph Boikai yesterday. I did not get an opportunity to pose a question to him on the program, therefore I will do it here. My Question to VP Boikai and President Ellen Johnson Sorleaf is: Do you have confidence in our health care delivery system, and in Dr. Gwenigale, Dr Dahn and the Deputy Chief Medical officers handling of the Ebola outbreak? Before you answer that question consider this scenario. Its 12am and God forbid (you, the president, the President Pro Temp of the Senate, the Speaker of the House, a lawmaker, the Chief Justice, Dr Gwenigale) has a heart attack, a stroke and kidney failure. Do you believe theres an EMS system in place to resuscitate you ; a functioning ER that can ventilate you and stabilize you, CT scan at JFK to determine whether you are bleeding on the brain, a functioning lab and blood bank, and dialysis unit? These are equipment needed to diagnose and treat common diseases and emergencies that affect people of African descent/ particularly people in Liberia, on a daily basis. Its indeed only a matter of time before one of you is faced with it. As far as the Ebola pandemic is concerned, it exposed weaknesses in our entire health care delivery system. In fact the health care delivery system collapsed and became nonexistent when hospitals and clinics shut down. Only ELWA remained open. What a shame for an entire country! The health authorities embarrassed the president and put the health of our people in jeopardy. This led to the unnecessary loss of life from treatable diseases, and a record number of deaths from the Ebola virus. My recommendation: I recommend that you call a hearing on the state of health care delivery in Liberia; impress upon the President, the lawmakers, the Minister of health and Administrators of Hospitals the need to train physicians, and equip hospitals with diagnostic equipment, laboratory equipment and medications. By so doing you will not only save yourselves, but by extension you will improve the health of 3millionLiberians. A healthy people will lead to a more productive nation. As a trickle down effect it will improve the economy, In turn Sirleafs legacy will be secure, you will close the mouths of your critics, and it will position you to run and possibly succeed EJS, and save us the headache of having to deal with a dysfunctional group of youngsters, in the person of CDC hierarchy . In essence your government should be motivated to improve health care delivery in Liberia because its a win win situation for the leadership and all of our people. In closing I would like to offer the same help Ive offered in the past. Dr King ( Dr King was in Liberia last year and did surgeries at JFDoe) has offered to establish a Neuro surgery ward and duplicate what they did at Kor le bu Dr Stephanie Freeman critical care to establish ICU Dr KJ Little ER and consult on EMS system Dr Leon LU lab and blood bank Dr Antoine ( I took Dr Antoine to Liberia in 2010 and she worked at Grant hospital) Psychiatric hospital Dixon Marlowe owner of Hall County EMS to bring in well equipped Ambulance and train Emergency Medical Technicians (he was in Liberia and met with Dr Gwenigale in 2008) In the past weve been told theres no funding . However JFK gets $7million a year but nothing to show for it. MOH gets over. $20 million a year but our system collapsed under the weight of Ebola. What say you members of The Liberian Electoral College?
Posted on: Fri, 08 Aug 2014 02:46:06 +0000