It is no secret that Freetown’s main referral hospitals – Connaught and the Princess Christina Maternity Hospital (PCMH) – are in dire need of medical equipment and supplies. To help cushion the urgency, the Sierra Leone Bottling Company Limited (SLBC Ltd) has donated $400,000 USD worth of medical equipment and supplies to the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, for use in the two key hospitals.
Handing over two 40-ft containers crammed with medical consignments to Deputy Minister I, Madinatu Rahman, the SLBC, Country Director, Israel Okujagu said, “The donations [were] made possible by the kind and humanitarian initiatives of the Coca-Cola Africa Foundation, the Equatorial Coca-Cola Bottling Company, and Medshare.”
The Matron of Connaught Hospital, Isatu Kamara, said the donations were timely for an effective health care service delivery.
Okujagu explained the Coca-Cola Africa Foundation and Medicare partnership began in 2004 under the ShareHope intervention program. The program has delivered over 85 similar containers worth over $25 million USD of essential medical supplies to enhance health care delivery capacities in five ShareHope countries.
“Under this same program,” Okujagu said, “the people of Sierra Leone has received eight of these containers; which has gone a long way to improve the quality of health care in the country.”
He explained that the company drives its sustainable community initiatives through the Coca Cola Africa Foundation, noting that the three main sustainable priorities of the Foundation are: water, women and well-being.
The Mayor of Freetown, Bode Gibson, thanked SLBC and stressed that health is a vital ingredient for a nation to become prosperous.
Okujagu said, “We firmly believe that we can only have a sustainable and successful business if the communities in which we operate are in a healthy and viable state.” He revealed the medical equipment and supplies… Have been carefully selected by the officials of the beneficiary hospitals and they are highly needed by these health facilities. Receiving the items, the Deputy Minister explained it was her who chose the beneficiary hospitals when she was approached by the SLBC Ltd. “They did not just give us medical supplies they gave us what we wanted,” she said.
PCMH Senior Hospital Superintendent Dr. Alimamy Koroma promised that the supplies would be used for its intended purpose.
By Ophaniel Gooding
Awoko Monday, May 15, 2017
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