No more beds for children at Cottage Hospital
Princess Christian Maternity Hospital commonly known as Cottage is the most popular children’s hospital in the country with an iconic status. Desperate Mothers in the Western Area wanting treatment for their kids will run to Cottage. Well news coming from the place now is not what people would want to hear, which is that the hospital can no longer cope with the number of sick children showing up there. Children with health issues that should be admitted are being turned away because there are no more beds and space. The admission Wards are so congested that people are becoming worried about an outbreak of infectious diseases. We know that the trepidation accompanying the outbreak of coronavirus forced many people to stop going to hospital. But with the apparent drop in the infection rate, the hospitals that were almost deserted are becoming full again.
So we can see why Cottage too is being overwhelmed. Ministry of Health officials should have known this and ought to have initiated the necessary contingency plans to accommodate this large number of children. With no extra room or bed, mothers with sick children have been left with the stark choice of seeking treatment at very expensive private hospitals which majority just cannot afford, or resorting to poor treatment at home. A woman whose 16 month-old baby girl was in dire need of medical treatment, went to several hospitals in east suburban Freetown early this week, but was in each occasion referred to Cottage. She took her baby to Cottage but was told the place was full. She went back to one of the hospitals that had made the referral and got the baby given IV treatment, and went home. The charming little girl passed away on Tuesday evening. We are sure similar fate could have befallen a good number of babies, adding to the growing number of infant mortality cases in the country. How about opening Canopies and setting up temporary wards to cope with the surge. Our Health officials must address the problem now, because Cottage is crammed up and children are dying.
Listening to the SLRA Engineer yesterday on radio
Good to hear a senior Engineer from the Sierra Leone Roads Authority (SLRA) on radio yesterday morning discussing plans for the rehabilitation of roads in different parts of the country. Most of our roads are in a pretty poor shape and people would want every administration to put premium on that. King Messi did quite some job and the hope is that Principal too would continue from where his predecessor left. But there are some concerns that the people have raised about our road works over the years. Foreign- owned companies have taken the bulk of road construction contracts and they come do work that people sometimes frown at. Potholes appear on these our multi-million dollar roads in no time, whether shabby work or other factors could be responsible, we cannot tell. But we think also that some of this sudden deterioration could be due to the terrain around the roads. Hills along some roads during the rainy season create pathways for incessant running water, mixed with gravel that empty into or run across the asphalt constructed roads. Gradual or sometimes rapid eroding of the asphalt takes place and potholes eventually emerge. We think that could have been prevented because thorough survey prior to construction should have been done by even our SLRA people who would know all the problematic areas that could be marked out and relayed to the prospective contractors, so they would know the kind of drainage/culvert to apply to prevent damage to the costly roads. Problematic spots could be found on all of our roads built in recent years, with all the fanfare and propaganda that went with their construction, as if providing the people with good roads, was a favour.
Just a couple of examples, the area by the Speed Bump at Kossoh Town/ Hastings Junction by Jui is going through endless and useless fixing by the Chinese Contractors. The same can be said of Jui Junction/ Waterloo highway by the gas station. We are not trying to be too critical but the sight of Chinese and local workers heating tar in drums placed over fire right there in the open is too old fashioned to think about, especially in this 21st century!
On the issue of sidewalks, the SLRA fella was heard also talking about drivers climbing over the slabs on pavements and getting public cooperation to have them pay penalties for destroying them in the process. Well the slabs could be seen buried into the gutters due to poor placing and the pressure of human traffic as well, not just by the action of irresponsible drivers. Many pedestrians have been injured, some very seriously by the gaping pavements that remain unattended all over streets in our major cities and towns. And we cannot sue the government agency responsible for dereliction of duty! The Engineer gave us a clue that they get money from the Road Maintenance Fund Agency to do their work. Then guys ask for money and do what you’re supposed to do! By the way how much background check is being done on both foreign and local construction firms landing fat contracts here?
Accused persons lack legal representation in our courts!
There are disturbing signs coming from the Magistrate Courts in Freetown in particular; people appear in the dock with no lawyer to represent them. This is a fact and an unpleasant one too. A good number of these people look very blank, apparently not au fait with what they should be provided with under the law. We expect the Legal Aid Board to be pursuing matters of this nature. They have freed a lot of people from the clutches of the law, sometimes men and women who have been unjustly incarcerated. But we have discovered that litigants appear these days with no lawyer, and these are criminal cases. Is it that the Board is short of lawyers who are willing to come forward and offer their much needed support? Or is it that many of our legal practitioners do not contemplate availing themselves to cases where there is no juice? Some litigants are so ignorant of their rights that they suffer unduly by representing themselves in criminal cases. It is a right for them to have legal representation in court and the number of mostly young men left all by themselves to argue their case, should prick the conscience of our lawyers! There are those on remand and are appearing in court in the provinces, with no legal person to defend them. If we are talking about improving the justice them, then this is one grey area that has to be looked into. Money is something, which we all do know, but it cannot be everything in life.
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