By Lamin Jallow
Gambia health care system is clearly not set up for the patient. It is frequently a poor arrangement for Doctors and Nurses as well, but that does not mitigate how bad and poor the system is for the patient’s best interest.
The thing is, you cannot ask people to coexist by having one side bow their heads and rely on a solution that is only good for the other side
A great deal of the talk about Gambia Health Professional laissez faire attitude must be discounted, or at least put into its proper context. In many cases the argument concealed an admission that a problem was insoluble, or that it must be endured, because no one could think of any method of solving it.
Laissez faire was not the result of a new and optimistic belief in the progress of society through Gambia Government. It was rather an acknowledgement that the fund of skill and experience at the service of society was limited, and that, in the management of our Health system, men would not be able to find the elasticity and adaptiveness which individuals showed in devising schemes for their own self-interest. The treatment of social and economic questions was more haphazard and empirical that no one in our society is ready to acknowledge.
To justify this “I DON’T CARE ATTITUDE OF OUR HEALTH PROFESSINAL.” Less than a month ago, both of my sisters were involved in a car accident. They were rushed to RVTH in Banjul, upon arrival, the CAT-SCAN machine was dysfunctional and they transported them back to Knifing for scanning and screening. The hospital staffs cannot detect internal bleeding in one of my sister as a result she passed away within two weeks. My other sister was moved from RVTH to Dakar for advance treatment. When she was at RVTH, the Doctors told us that nothing is wrong with her skull and bones all over her body are intact. Upon her arrival in Dakar, they screen her body using both CAT-SCAN and MRI and detect that she has fracture on her skull and one of her rib broken. She was retaining fluid in her lungs because one of her broken rib punctures her lung. The worst and sandiest path of her admission in Banjul was the Nurses where not even turning her and not given her proper hygiene. She developed BED SORES all over her body. This can tell us how useless and careless our Nurses and Doctors are in our health sector.
“Compassion without discipline is egregious self-sabotage.” fact that such an inherently animalistic, short-sighted, anti-human Health professional keeps walking in our hospitals and clinics.
General health system challenges including the effects of previous high population growth rate; inadequate financial and logistic support; weak health information system; uncoordinated donor support; shortage of adequately and appropriately trained health staff; high attrition rate and lack of efficient and effective referral system. In addition, poverty, low awareness of health issues and poor attitude of service providers have led to inappropriate health seeking behaviors and contributed to ill health. These factors have seriously constrained efforts to reduce morbidity and mortality rates as desired and as a result health care delivery throughout The GAMBIA has not lived up to expectation.
Gambia needs effective quality assurance system which has the potential to improve quality health care services according to set standards, reduce risks and produce positive impact on morbidity, mortality, differentially-abled and malnourished children will be put in place. A comprehensive quality assurance mechanism within the health sector should be developed and introduced using these existing structures.
Establish Clinical Audit Units in all health facilities so as to strengthen routine assessment of adherence to set standards and norms. This is the mandate of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.
A Board of Health to be established to comprise of representatives of the various Councils, policy makers within and out of the Health Sector, health professionals within and outside the Public Health System. The functions of the Board shall include, among other things: · Review and approve National Health Service standards · Monitor quality of health services nationally · Accredit all public, private and NGOs health facilities for service delivery
Occupational safety and traffic injury are serious burdens, with 35% of crashes resulting in injuries to young children. Treacherous roads, weak transit regulations, and strained trauma services magnify these risks. Mr. President GAMBIA NEEDS TRAUMA HOSPITAL FOR HER PEOPLE.
An appropriate, robust, and sustainable model for improvement in health system performance is essential in order to reverse the declining trends in health and development status and break the vicious cycle of poverty and ill-health in Gambia
Improved health status leads to increased productivity, educational performance, life expectancy, savings and investments, and decreased debts and expenditure on health care. Ultimately this would lead to greater equity, economic return, and social and political stability. Therefore, improved health is a key factor for human development. “To beg for the blessing of “authority” is to accept that the choice is the master’s alone to make, which means that the person is already, by definition, a slave.”
Let us be the ones who say we do not accept our love ones dies simply because he does not have the drugs, proper diagnostic proper Nursing care and conducive environment for treatment. Let us be the ones to say we are not satisfied with our health sector. Let us be outraged, let us be loud, and let us be bold. WE ARE SICK OF THE OLD SAME SYSTEM.
