Report emerging from Bong County says the only Referral Hospital in the county, the Phebe Hospital in Suakoko District is currently in darkness due to the lack of fuel.
Making the disclosure in an interview with The Monrovia Times at the compound of the Hospital in the county, the Administrator of the Hospital, Mr. Kerson Saykor said fuel used to operate the hospital has finished and the hospital is not capacitated to get additional fuel due to the lack of funds.
Mr. Saykor said the hospital has been in darkness for about two weeks adding that Doctors and Nurses are using Chinese lights to cater to patents.
“We can only use the little fuel the hospital have when there is a serious emergency case at the hospital after that the generator will be cut off, while Doctors and Nurses used Chinese lights to stay on duty,” Mr. Saykor cited.
He said the situation is serving as a serious impediment to the smooth operation of the only referral hospital in the central region.
“We can’t be operating at a hospital like Phebe with touch lights, we want the support of the government and humanitarian organizations in and out of Liberia,” one Nurse who prefers not to be named adds.
Our Bong County Correspondent says the situation has gathered wide public outcry in the County with many of the citizens shaping blame on the County Legislative Caucus.
Some of the citizens who are mostly women said it appears that their various Lawmakers have forgotten about them evidence by their silence on the current problem at Phebe Hospital.
“If they were really seeking our interests, then by now some of them have given some money or talk with partners and government to provide fuel, but since darkness covered the hospital, none of them have made even a single contribution to the Hospital’s administration” Sarah Kerkulah a seven months Pregnant Woman told this paper.
According to her, besides the lack of electricity at the hospital, it is difficult to even find paracetamol or oral rehydration salt (ORS), which is worrisome.
“I carried my little sister at Phebe on Friday, April 19 for treatment, but we were forced to leave the place in the night as a result of the lack of electricity and other medical equipment. We took her to Baptist clinic in Gbarnga where she was operated on” Nowai Freeman another resident of the County told a local Radio station through a telephone call.
Mrs. Freeman stated that even though she had the money to pay at Baptist clinic, but she is mostly concern about the poor people that are going to seek medication at Phebe because they do not have money to pay.
Our Bong County Reporters says, during the County Council sitting, sixty thousand United States Dollars was allotted in the budget for the hospital but up to press time, the money has not been given.
Our Correspondent says that Chairperson of the County Legislative Caucus Henry Willie Yallah has not spoken about the issue, but his colleague Senator Henrique Flomo Tokpa has stated that the county has received some funds from the government but has not been disbursed.
Meanwhile, Bong County Health Team has promised to quickly intervene in the situation.
The health Team through its Chief Administrator Jonah N. Tokpah stated that they are currently engaging the Liberian government through the Ministry of Health to speedily provide fuel for the Hospital.
