The Chinese Ambassador Zhao Yanbo and the Minister of Health and Sanitation Dr Abu Bakarr Fofanah on Friday at the Ministry’s Conference hall, Youyi Building signed two medical agreements that will see Chinese doctors come in to help in the area of eye surgery and maternal health care.
Giving a short address before the signing, the Chinese Ambassador said during the ebola, they discovered that Sierra Leone do not have enough doctors and they had to send 20 doctors that are working in the Jui hospital.
“Ebola is over and the problem is more evident now because some of the doctors unfortunately lost their lives and this has worsened the problem. It is because of that reason my government has decided to come in again to help in the area of eye surgery and Maternal and Child care.”
Ambassador Zhao said since 1973 China has been sending medical teams to Sierra Leone and they helped establish the Kingharman Road hospital where the doctors were working.
The two teams that are coming will do Cataract operations and the second team will help with Maternal and Child Care, food nourishment, child health and development, infant and child nutrition.
“They will come with equipment which they will use to help in this area and when they are going they will leave it behind for the Ministry.”
Concerning the Cataract operation, the registration process is on-going and the first team of doctors will come at the end of the month to set the stage for the rest to come as they intend to perform 500 or more eye operations.
“We refer to this agreement as the ‘Journey to Brightness’ because the operations are for Sierra Leoneans to get their eye sight again in perfect order. So we are calling on all Sierra Leoneans that have cataract or someone you know who has it, to visit the Jui hospital now and register. The operations will be done free of charge and this will be the fifth operation conducted in Sierra Leone.
The Minister of Health thanked the Chinese Ambassador and his team for their continued support and said China has shown how sincere their friendship is to Sierra Leone.
“We are truly grateful for this assistance and do hope that the continued bi-lateral friendship will develop. You truly know our problems and these two agreements we will sign will definitely help us achieve the President’s Recovery plans as our health system is challenged.”
He said they are looking forward to start working with these Chinese Teams so that they can help contribute to the health of the people of Sierra Leone.
Both teams are expected to arrive at the end of the month and to put modalities in place to start operations. The signing agreement was witnessed by the two deputy Ministers, and the Economic Counsellor and other Ministry of Health Officials and doctors from Jui hospital.
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