Gbarnga, Bong County – The lack of electricity at the C.B Dunbar Maternity Hospital in Gbarnga has forced the Hospital to temporarily shutdown.
The hospital has been facing serious electricity problem since its three diesel generators broke down some two months ago.
The Medical Director of the Hospital, Dr. Obed Dolo, said those who are currently admitted at the hospital with minor problems will continue to receive treatment until full recovery but added that the center will not accept any pregnant woman or patient for now.
Dr. Dolo explained that the situation has been communicated to Ministry of Health but no immediate intervention has been made so far.
Meanwhile, Dr. Dolo has appealed to philanthropist organizations and good will citizens to assist the hospital to resume effective services.
Sources at the hospital say, about six pregnant women were Saturday night turned down due to the situation.
Speaking with FrontPageAfrica Monday, a local official of the Ministry of Health said, the Ministry is exerting efforts to provide new generator to the hospital.
The Ministry’s Director of communications Sober George reassured the public of the resumption of effective health services at the maternity hospital.
Situated in Gbarnga, C.B Dunbar is the only specialized maternal hospital in rural Liberia with a catchment community of over sixty thousand people.
According to the administration, the hospital also caters to patients with maternal complications from border towns and villages within the Republic of Guinea.
Patients stranded
The patients, who woke up on Monday morning to seek medical services, were dismayed on finding the hospital gate closed with a notice announcing the suspension of operations.
“The hospital is experiencing lack of electricity. We can only handle emergency cases. Please bear with us and seek medical attention from other sources until the situation normalizes,” the notice signed by the hospital management, stated.
Most affected
According to a medical worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to the media, the maternity ward, and operation theatre are most affected because they cannot operate without power and water.
“The hospital has been in water crisis since Friday last week and was followed by power outage the following day,” the source said.
“We have not closed the hospital. We have suspended operations as we work on these issues”, the source said.
Like C.B. Dunbar, many health facilities in Liberia are experiencing similar problems and some do not even have generators.
Despite huge donors support to the health sector, it is still performing below par.
Selma Lomax, [email protected]