Port Loko District Council has on Monday June 29, 2020, commissioned a newly constructed Maternal and Child Health Post (MCHP) in Magbaingbera village.
Magbaingbera, which is well known for the many acreage of oil palm plantation owned by the late Sorie Ibrahim Koroma (S.I. Koroma), is situated in the Maforki Chiefdom, Port Loko District, north-western Sierra Leone.
During the commissioning ceremony, the outgoing Chief Administrator of the Port Loko District Council (PLDC), Raman Tom Farmar, who has been transferred to the Western Area Rural District Council (WARDC), said the MCHP was constructed from funds that were allocated to PLDC by the central government.
“The MCHP in this village has a catchment population of over 5,000. But the previous building, which was used as MCHP, was in a deplorable condition. It leaked seriously when it rained. There were no good beds for patients, especially women that were in labour, and no quarter for nurses. In fact, nurses saw it as a punishment when they were transferred to work in this village,” he said.
He disclosed that they conducted a needs assessment and found out that the Magbaingbera MCHP was a death trap, and there was a need to construct a better facility for the people.
Farmar said the new MCHP now has a staff quarter, WASH facility, standby generator and solar plant.
“This is just one of the numerous projects that I have embarked on in the last three years as a Chief Administrator of PLDC. Almost every chiefdom in Port Loko District has benefitted from council’s offers in the form of health centres, schools, clean and safe drinking water facilities, community entertainment and market centres, toilets, among others.”
He urged the Magbaingbera residents to take ownership of the MCHP and protect its facilities from thievery.
Chairman, Port Loko District Council, Ibrahim Santigie Bangura, thanked the central government for supporting decentralization with funds to embark on projects.
He said the newly constructed MCHP would now enable nurses to administer medical treatment to patients in a conducive atmosphere, while calling on the beneficiaries to handle the facility with care.
“I am sad at this moment to inform all of you that my hard-working Chief Administrator has been transferred to WARD C. He is the man behind all the successes I have made since I was elected in 2018. The government has snatched him away from me,” he said as he shed tears and wished Raman Tom Farmar well in his new assignment.
Resident Minister, North Western Region, Haja Isata Abdulai-Kamara, said the previous condition of the MCHP was deplorable, calling on all the Magbaingbera residents to use the facility to solve all their health problems.
However, she said Port Loko district will surely miss Raman Tom Farmar, who has helped the council to be ranked as the fourth best performing council in Sierra Leone.
“I hope his successor continues his good work. If the successor does not improve on the successes gained by Farmar, he/she should maintain them,” she said.
By Joseph S. Margai
1/7/2020. ISSUE NO.: 7855