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The Government of Sierra Leone through the Ministry of Health and Sanitation has kickstarted the construction of a Burns Unit at Connaught Hospital in Freetown.
Construction of the Unit will be championed by LeoneOil and National Petroleum (NP) energy companies.
The Minister of Health and Sanitation, Dr. Austin Demby spoke on the importance of such a unit at the country’s largest hospital. He said that the country has well-trained surgeons but they are usually overwhelmed when faced with emergencies especially without a Burns Unit.
He made this statement while recalling on the November 5 tanker explosion in Wellington just over a year ago. The disaster is believed to be the country’s most fatal fire accident with over 100 people losing their lives.
Dr. Demby said that there will be training for medical practitioners that will work in the Unit when it is completed.
The minister also spoke about government’s commitment to improving the health sector and announced that there will be an 8 million US Dollar project to renovate all government hospitals in the country.
The Deputy Chief Medical Officer at Connaught, Dr. Mustapha Kabba welcomed the project and spoke on its importance.
He recalled that plans to establish the Unit started after the November 5 incident but praised LeoneOil and NP Sierra Leone for their assistance.
According to reports, some of funds going to be used to build this unit is part of the companies’ corporate social responsibility.
The Unit when completed will be the first in Freetown’s largest and oldest hospital.
In another development Connaught, Princess Christian Maternity and Ola During Hospitals each received an ambulance to help boost their paramedical departments.
