By Maria Lopes
July 7, 2021
Some patients at the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital (EFSTH) have expressed dismay over the services and conditions at the country’s main referral hospital. A patient who spoke to The Progress Newspaper on condition of anonymity said that she went to the hospital laboratory for testing and was referred to the Polyclinic.
‘Some of us were abandoned and left unattended, which is totally wrong and unfair,’ she complained, adding that whenever a patient urgently needed the attention of health personnel at the hospital, especially the young nurses, they will ‘either ignore you or tell you that they are busy, whereas they will be chatting’.
She recalled that former President Jammeh advised President Barrow not to compromise the security of the nation and its citizens which includes the health sector, while berating hospital staff for neglecting their duties.
However, another patient at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of EFSTH told this medium that conditions at the ICU is normal and comfortable for patients.
A patient escort who also spoke to this newspaper said the main referral hospital in The Gambia is facing the challenge of adequate beds for patients.
He said while the hospital receives medical equipment and drugs as donations from their development partners, in the end ‘you will not know the whereabouts of those equipment because most of the time if you come to the hospital for medical check-up, the nurses will tell you that the hospital is lacking basic equipment or drugs’.
He then appealed to the government of The Gambia and the Ministry of Health to do everything possible to address the challenges confronting Gambia’s health sector, stressing that there will be no meaningful development in the country without an efficient healthcare delivery.
