Monrovia – Some students of the A.M Dogliotti College of Medicine, have expressed dissatisfaction over promises made by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to revamp the dormitory, pay their monthly stipends amongst many things.
Report by Bettie K. Johnson-Mbayo/ [email protected]
They students said it’s an empty promise.
The students, currently residing on campus, asked for anonymity on fears that they will be kicked out by the administration if their names are mentioned in the report.
The students said the President recently sent an entourage to the campus to assess their living conditions following FPA’s recent publication.
The medical and pharmaceutical students expressed regret over the manner they are being abandoned by the Liberian Government.
“When the entourage came, they brought 25kg bag of rice, with 6-7 persons a bag and each student received a tin of sardine along with US$1000 for the students leadership.
“They promised to renovate the dorm but they haven’t stepped their feet on this campus since they left,” a student anonymously said.
The medical students disclosed that currently the school has over 260 students who are discouraged by the empty promises made by the Liberian leader.
The A.M. Dogliotti College of Medicine is the only medical college in Liberia and has over four buildings erected near the Atlantic Ocean. The buildings are in dire strait and in severe need of renovation.
Nearly every Liberian doctor in the country studied at the College and the buildings currently has no running water for the students attending.
The Liberia Medical and Dental Council said there are currently 298 medical doctors responsible for the country’s over 4.5 million population, making the doctor per patient ratio 1:15,000.
The field of specialty is limited at A.M. Dogliotti College of Medicine.
The LMDC statistics updated on July 2015 report that there are 207 general practitioners – 18 Public Health Specialists, 15 Pediatricians, 12 Surgeons, 10 Gynecologists, 6 Ophthalmologists, 8 Internal Medicine Specialists, 6 Dentists, 4 Family Medicine Specialists and 2 Orthopedics.
Liberia also only has two radiologists, one pathologist, four psychiatrists, one ear, and throat specialist, one veterinarian, and one dermatologist.
The figures show that the number of doctors is increasing, daily reportedly from recent graduate by the University of the Liberia 2015/16 graduation.
However, the figure is still far from the 1:1,000 doctor to patient ratio recommended by the World Health Organization.
Dr. Lekilay Tehmeh of the LMDC attributed the cause of the poor doctor to patient ratio to the civil war, adding that the turmoil caused most of the doctors to immigrate to other countries.
For many graduates, a medical degree is a ticket to a good life outside Liberia.
“The salaries here are bad. There are no incentives. For years, our doctors have left for the glitz and glamour of the First World, “That’s why we have a dysfunctional health-care system,” he said.
FPA established that 5 students are placed in each room due to the incoming of new students.
At the same time, the classes ranging from first to fifth year are the largest in the Medical school history.
The students said they are planning to do a sit in action since it is the only time in which the government can get their attention.
“We feel that if we do the sit in action, it will grab attention.”
“The medical school is abandoned so why wouldn’t we seek better jobs and salaries abroad because our Government is paying less attention to us as medical students, and they haven’t given us stipends for the past 7 months.”
“Our dormitory lacks basic needs, the buildings are filthy, no water, how do they want Liberian students to pursue sciences. Nothing is encouraging as far we are concerned and they said we shouldn’t engage in anything like business but that is ridiculous.”
The Medical College was added to the University of Liberia in 1968, and was opened in a partnership between Italy’s A.M. Dogliotti Foundation and the government of Liberia.
The School of Pharmacy is also at the medical school.
The former dean of A.M Dogliotti, Dr. Johnathan Hart, recently requested for part-time instructors to be dismissed.
He called on the School’s administration to take action on grounds that they are hindering the educational capacity of soon-to be doctors.
His statement was made recently at the year-end party of the medical school which brought together doctors, physician assistants and students.
“What we planned to do in the next two years is to make medicine a medical profession for all, and this is a warning to all those professors who are part-time who continuously received salary at the detriment of the students,” said Dr. Hart.
The former dean of the medical school further that it’s time for Liberians to receive better health care services, stressing the possibility if student doctors are better trained.