Health workers at Campbell Town health Centre in Waterloo have disclosed to Premier News on Monday that, lack of pipe-borne water, hospital structure, toilet facility and drugs is impeding their operation in the community.
Esther Saspo, a nurse at a Health centre in the community, said that since the hospital which served the community was demolished in 2019, they have been working under extreme conditions, adding that they have no convenient centre where sick people are treated.
“The place provided for treatment is not convenient for our operations. The structure has no proper windows and that usually exposes us to cold, mosquito and other hazards. We are presently sleeping in the community houses and we are not the only ones affected but the patients, mostly the pregnant women who usually come for delivery at night,” Nurse Saspo said.
She spoke of lack of water in the centre as another problem which is also affecting the community. She explained that as medical practitioners they could not do anything without water. “Patients need water, the hospital and the staff as well, but we have been here over two months now without water,” she emphasized.
She recalled that they were assisted with a Milla tank filled with water by AAH, a Non-Governmental Organization. She added that, since the tank was emptied, no one has come to their help.
“We are trying every day to reach the stakeholders in charge, but they always tell us that the vehicle that they used to supply water is no more operating, so there is no way to supply us water,” she added.
She also revealed that they have no toilet but use a toilet owned by a community school, adding that a large number of people scramble to use that toilet which is located a distance from the hospital.
She appealed to the government and NGOs to support the Campbell town community with a building to house a community health facility adequately supplied with drugs, pipe borne water and which has a toilet facility in order to ease their constraints in the community.
By Ibrahim S.Bangura
2/12/2020. ISSUE NO: 7961