Monrovia – When the National Orator of Liberia’s 169th Independence anniversary, Dougbeh Chris Nyan, openly made available his medical invention and technology for Liberia, the Mano River Union (MRU), and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to invest in the development, production, and commercialization of his diagnostic technology, a round of applause ensued in the Centennial Memorial Pavilion.
Report by Alpha Daffae Senkpeni, [email protected]
But Liberians are accustomed to being weary of saying and ‘not doing’. The existing gaps in Africa’s oldest Republic’s health sector are massive; something which prompted the well experienced Medical Doctor to include the issues of the country’s health system in his national speech – suggestions that could help fix the struggling sector.
Reemphasizing the need to prioritize health in the fiscal budget sounds redundant especially as the country, less than three years ago, experienced the worst Ebola epidemic.
“We need to train public health professionals at least at the Master’s Degree level,” suggested Dr. Dougbeh Chris Nyan.
“We should not be contended with these haphazard short-term 3-4 months training of people in the field of public health,” warning that such human resource empowerment within the health sector is absolutely not sufficient, despite records showing that there are 18 public health specialists in the country.
Liberia Medical and Dental Council (LMDC) statistics in 2015 show there are currently 298 medical doctors in the country catering for the over 4 million population.
The Ebola outbreak ravaged the country, exposing the weakness of both the technical and human resource ability of the sector in dealing with a complicated health crisis.
Within the total of 298 health experts, there are 207 general health workers, 15 pediatricians, 18 public health specialists, 15 pediatricians, 12 surgeons, 10 gynecologists, six ophthalmologists, and six dentists amongst other specialists.
In rural Liberia, the constraints locals and health workers face on a daily basis whether to seek or render health services are complex.
Limited additional employment opportunities, low salaries and incentives, very limited higher education institutions to foster career ladder and the lack of specialized staff are few of the challenges hampering health care delivery in rural Liberia, according Dr. Odell W. Kumeh, the current Health Officer of Bomi County.
She also named delay in receiving government’s allotment, limited funding to purchase lifesaving drugs and the limited logistical support including ambulances are also major problems.
Mentioning the numerous challenges facing the country during his July 26 speech, Dr. Nyan stressed the need for the national budget to place premium on health, which he said would subsequently support the training of the country’s own scientists who will be capable of dealing with infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS, malaria and Ebola, etc.
“That is why we also propose that Liberia commits a lion-share of the national budget to health in general and financial resources for the establishment of its own Center for Disease Control and Prevention.”
Like other regional experts who have suggested the relevance of regional health collaboration, the experienced US based health specialist reckons this will enhance effective surveillance and exchange public health information.
Recent reports have shown progress in the Ebola research study ongoing here, with doctors working on the study saying it is particularly designed to find out if an investigational drug called GS-5734 can safely get rid of or reduce the amount of Ebola virus that may persist in the semen of some male Ebola survivors.
Despite these gains, there are also health challenges survivors endure after they recovered from Ebola, experts say.
And unlike Ebola, which President Ellen Johnson says the country is now knowledgeable about dealing with the epidemic, there are also concerns about malaria, HIV/AIDS and even maternal mortality.
“We need to develop our own rapid diagnostic capability for early diagnostic testing for infectious diseases. We need to study the Ebola virus ourselves and study the survivals of EVD ourselves,” Dr. Nyan suggested.
The human resource void is colossal, so as the technical potency of the system. However, Dr. Nyan, who has invented a simple, rapid, and affordable test system says, he’s committed to working to fight against infectious diseases in Liberia and other African countries.
“This government should act promptly in working out the mechanism, for the diseases are not waiting on us, but can strike any minute and cross international borders again,” he warned.
“This is a practical path to contributing to the transforming Liberia’s diagnostic capability and that of the other countries and improving the health care systems here in Liberia and the world.”
