Kakata, Margibi – Liberians based in the United States of America are back providing free medical services to their countrymen in Montserrado, Grand Bassa and Margibi Counties. The nine man delegation, named Liberia Medical Mission, is on a charity medical mission in the country.
According to Mr. Joseph Sackor, head of delegation, the team is made of few Liberians who are part of a volunteering charitable organization which has led them to give back to the country. Some members of the team are graduates of the Tubman National Institute of Medical Arts (TNIMA) who were fortunate to travel to the US.
“We decided to come back and give back to our country based on the medical needs of our people,” he said. “We decided to run a charitable program that is to come home. We paid our own way, bought our tickets to come and treat our people. We gathered donations from other Liberians in the US.”
In an interview with FrontPageAfrica in Larkayta compound in Margibi County where the team provided free services on Thursday, he said they have been dealing with many health cases including high blood pressure, ulcer, and diabetes among others.
“Our people really need help. We have discovered a lot of things and feel so bad about the medical service in Liberia. People are walking around with high blood pressure up to 200 and that is wrong. Sooner or later if those patients are not treated properly with follow up, they might come down with kidney failure, blindness. High blood pressure is a silent killer,” he added.
Ms. Ellen James, one of the nurses on the team, said amongst all the cases they have treated, high blood pressure has shown to be the major case in all areas. According to her, some of the patients were receiving first time blood pressure check.
“It is like walking dead but God has been with some of them so we have been creating awareness and referral so that even after we leave, they can continue to see doctors,” she said.
She said they have come across cases which need expert care, promising to return with experts during the next trip. “We will come with those experts when we come back. Because of the severity of cases we have come across, we are planning to make this trip once or twice a year,” she said.
For her part, Ms. Cecelia Kpor, another member of the team says she has serious interest in returning to Liberia to work but according to her, authority is refusing to give her nursing license because of their current nationality status.
“My experience with coming back home is that the board of nurses is not willing to give us license. It appears our authority prefer other foreign African nationals to run our health sector”, she said.
“Lots of people are walking on medical time bomb that if not treated, we will have a lot of stroke patients. We have seen the need, we have seen the human suffering so we feel morally obligated to come back to serve these people because one way or the other they are our relatives,” she said.
Members of the Team include; Mr. Joseph Sackor chairman, Ben Weefaa, co-chair, Roerta Willams, coordinator, Korlu Kuyon member, Asata Kamara, member, Ellen James member, Cecelia Kpor, member, Saymu Sackor and Farok Konneh.