By Foday Moriba Conteh
A journalist, Mariama Khai Fornah, has made a strong condemnation of the dumping of huge piles of garbage in strategic locations around the main referral hospital in the country, the Government Connaught Hospital in Freetown.
She began by saying that just recently all saw the piles of trash in key areas at the Connaught Hospital on social media.
According to her, the images were shocking and made her cry revealing how the hospital was opened in 1912 by the Duke of Connaught, Prince Arthur and it has a long, proud history.
Mariama said for several months, she has been a regular visitor to the hospital to be with a friend who is seriously ill.
She pointed out that the security personnel at the main entrance are very strict and always ask visitors to mask up, and wash their hands at the tap just by the gate before they are allowed to proceed to the wards while the nurses and porters are busy with their duties.
“I’ve seen the trashcans positioned in main points around the Hospital,” she intimated narrating how her eldest son takes food to her friend early in the morning and has never reported seeing piles of garbage like those portrayed on social media.
Mariama stated how she had been at the hospital at all hours, sometimes till 10:30pm, and have never seen anything close to what was shown on social media.
“To me, from the display of the garbage, you can clearly see that it was well orchestrated, designed and placed for optimum effect,” she lamented adding that it looks like someone emptied the trashcans to paint the hospital in an indecent light.
She called for thorough investigation to be mounted saying it is time for the Hospital Management to prove to Freetown and the world that the hospital is a decent place and to also expose the garbage-dumping culprit.
“Perhaps it’s time for the Ministry of Health and Sanitation to put cameras around the Hospital grounds,” she recommended furthering that Sierra Leoneans should enter the country’s anniversary with a positive mind and confess positive things to rebrand the country and protect her good image.
Alway suspicious at your failings which is very, I mean very unfortunate. A problem is solved when you first admit there is a problem otherwise, you will continue to blow hot air.