Saclepea, Nimba County – A modern surgical theater building worth about US$68,000.00 has been unveiled at the Saclepea Comprehensive Health Center in Saclepea City, Nimba County.
The project was funded by the Legislative Project from the office of Hon. Worlea Saywah Dunah of District #7, Nimba County.
At the dedicatory ceremony on October 8, 2016, authorities of the Ministry of Health – the county health team – health workers, chiefs, traditional leaders and ordinary citizens of Saclepea and surrounding towns and villages turned out in mass to grace the occasion.
The program was also marked by a colorful parade through the main streets of Saclepea.
Turning the keys of the theater over to the county authority including the county health team which is headed by Dr. Collins Bowah, Hon. Dunah expressed gratitude to the people of Nimba for their cooperation in working together to enhance the county’s health needs.
“The funding of this project is from you and is for you who elected us,” Hon. Dunah Said as he handed the key to Dr. Bowah.
It can be recalled that the Saclepea Comprehensive Health Center was established by Medecin San Frontier-Switzerland in 2002 to cater to Ivorian Refugees and displaced Liberians made homeless by the second Liberian civil crises.
Referred to as MSF Clinic then, the facility was later handed over to the Government of Liberia through the county health team on May 1, 2009.
The clinic has ever since been elevated to a health center status, but has struggled to cater to the increasing number of patients and cases from within its proximity.
The center has depended on Ganta United Methodist Hospital in Ganta City and the Jackson F. Doe Memorial Hospital in Tappita for the referral of cases that require surgery.
The lack of urgent surgical attention at the Saclepea Comprehensive Healh Center, sometime leads to situations that cause maternal mortality in the district.
Receiving the key on behalf of the county, the county health officer, Dr. Bowah thanked the Nimba Lawmaker for the gesture.
He expressed appreciation for the theater and vowed to do his best to get to his bosses at the MoH in Monrovia to enhance the functionality of the hospital within the coming weeks, which he said, will bring relief to the people of Nimba.
“When the theater is equipped and become operational, the burden on G.W.Harley Hospital in Sanniquellie will be reduced, “Dr. Bowah asserted.
Liberia Assistant Minister of Health for Curative Services, Dr. Catherine Coopers, lauded the people of the county for the steps always taken to foster government’s efforts in term of development. She, however, outlined the challenges that cause maternal death in rural Liberia.
“Maternal mortality is caused by many factors such as bad road conditions, lack of adequate health facility,” she said.
“Since the structure is available, I will work with Dr. Bowah to provide all supports to make the hospital functional.”
Meanwhile, citizens of Nimba are calling on government through the MoH to bring equipment to the theater as soon as possible in order to improve the health needs of pregnant women, mothers, children and others that died of other diseases simply because of the lack of improved health facility in the district.
The program was climaxed with a friendly football match between the Bahn Health Center and Saclepea Comprehensive Health Center. Bahn Health Center was defeated 2-0.
