By Phileas Jusu*
United Methodist General Hospital in eastern Freetown, Sierra Leone, now provides a more standard and expanded mother and child health care for patients through its newly constructed Mother and Child Health unit.
The $750,000 maternity building, funded through the American Schools and Hospitals Abroad and the United Methodist Committee on Relief, has doubled its previous maternal bed space from 24 to 50. Since the founding of Kissy United Methodist Hospital more than 30 years ago, maternal and child care has served as the core of the hospital’s services and area of expertise.
Community Outreach Unit
The fully air-conditioned facility, which was dedicated Oct. 26, 2013, also will provide space for an expanded outpatient area, consulting rooms, administrative offices, an expanded pharmacy and laboratory and radiology departments.
The unit also will house the hospital’s newly restructured Community Outreach Unit, which includes the HIV/AIDS “Friends” Unit, malaria and nutrition programs. This will enable the hospital to more effectively to reach out in the surrounding community and villages — where the maternal mortality, child morbidity and diseases of poverty are most pronounced.
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‘Conduit of peace, reconciliation and unity’
The bishop emphasized that politicians come and go but the church will always be there. He said the church will continue to stay and lead.
“So what we need to do is to ensure that we become the conduit of peace, of reconciliation and of unity because our agenda is eternal; our agenda does not change. We must take the lead to help our politicians to redirect their focus to the purpose of their being,” Yambasu said.
