By Public Relations Unit Njala University
In 1964 Njala University hospital was built as a Community Health Center to be one of the few referral hospitals to cater for students and staff of the University and the surrounding communities of Kori Chiefdom.
The plan was for the Centre to serve as a teaching, referral and research hospital; and hence for the first three decades after its establishment, it was a beacon of hope for providing excellent health care services to staff, students, and the surrounding community.
The state of affairs of the hospital has excruciatingly deteriorated over the last few years, especially after the brutal civil war, largely due to the economic challenges facing the management of public Universities in Sierra Leone. It can no longer get the required support to deliver the much needed services to its clients.
The facility is currently managed by the Njala University Medical Board. At campus level, the Campus Health Committee under the chairmanship of the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Njala Campus can tirelessly boast of a befitting infrastructure with almost all the sections expected of a complete referral hospital.
The Hospital also has an indefatigable trained and qualified staff, including a retired Sierra Leonean born Soviet-trained Doctor with long years of experience at the UK National Health Service, Dr. Mohamed Koker.
Dr. Koker is working farringly with four (4) Community Health Officers (CHO’s) with specialties in clinical, nutrition, surgical, mental health and psycho-social ability. The Hospital also has nurses qualified as State Enrolled Community Health Nurses, Midwives, MCH Aides, Laboratory Technicians, Administrators and hygienists etc.
With this well trained and qualified staff and with the requisite infrastructure, the many challenges that saturates the hospital have hindered its ability to handle cases coming to it from both the University and the immediate communities.
“The hospital pharmacy is so empty that it cannot provide even the simplest pain killer like Panadol,” the Senior Medical Doctor stated.
He also underscored the fact that, the laboratory cannot carry out simple tests such as Urinalysis even though there are trained and qualified lab technicians.
The situation is also the same for the operating theatre which also cannot do simple surgeries such as appendectomy. Fortunately, there is a well-established structure but it is not equipped to provide an acceptable, affordable or accessible health care service.
Meanwhile, the Senior Medical Officer has a wide range of ideas to revamp the hospital. First among them is turning attention to the private sector for support. The second is to trigger humanitarian efforts. Then the next is that the Senior Medical Doctor is keen to use a recently formed organization “Friends of Njala Hospital” to lobby support from the general public, the Njala University Alumni and other well- meaning Sierra Leoneans and the private sector.
It is worth noting that the Hospital has trained and qualified staff and the requisite infrastructure which is lacking in some major hospitals across the country.
The only remedy now left for revamping the hospital to serve the hundreds of students, staff and members of these deprived communities is to trigger an MOU signed in 2018 between Njala University and the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MOHS).
Under the proposed new arrangements, MOHS is to oversee and support the operations of the Hospital like any other public health facility in the country.
Meanwhile, kudos must be given to the Njala University Administration; amidst its meager resources, it is doing what it can to solve some of the challenges of the hospital such as sustainable running water, electricity, ambulance service for referrals and also ensuring that the hospital facility is always clean, pay staff and also meet other needs.
