PCMH Extensive Hours of a Power Outage

There is no shame in this. There’s no hiding. We need help at PCMH

Dr. Jeredine George, a Specialist Obstetrician Gynecologist working at the National OBGYN hospital, PCMH normally called 'cottage' wrote about the extensive hours of a power outage

‘Ar ready for the on-call tiday: bring it on!’

April 23, 2024

Dr. Jeredine George, a Specialist Obstetrician Gynecologist working at the National OBGYN hospital, PCMH normally called 'cottage' wrote about the extensive hours of power outage.

She posted on her mobile status with the caption "Ar ready for the on-call tiday: bring it on!" She was ready, she said. What she wasn't ready for was the extensive hours of power outage that came with it.

If you don't know me, my name is Dr. Jeredine George, and I'm a Specialist Obstetrician Gynecologist working at the National OBGYN hospital, PCMH normally called 'cottage.' 

My team is on call every Monday, and yesterday was no exception. There was a lights-out in the hospital from 9:15 PM yesterday until 8 AM today.

Let me give you scenarios of what this implies: Nurses and doctors examining patients with phone torches, patients who required oxygen did not get it, babies who needed oxygen while in their mothers' wombs did not get it, and as a result, we lost a baby immediately after surgery because it was in distress before delivery and some oxygen to the mother would have helped it.

Before you ask, the solar installed in the compound serving both hospitals can only last for a maximum of 5 hours in full capacity, and this was what was in operation till 9:15 PM.

The generator owned by the hospital can serve only the operating theatre.

Nurses had to admit, care for, and give medications to patients in the dark! if they're lucky, by the use of their phone torches or that of the patient's relatives.

'This is not an attack on anyone or anything in particular, but a desperate cry for help from a clinician who experiences daily what the average Sierra Leonean pregnant woman is facing just because the system is failing them.

Dr. Jeredine George

There are many issues at PCMH! and we need help.

I'm typing this and crying because we had a terrible night: my junior doctors and I have not slept a wink since 8 AM yesterday. 

We are not complaining about the workload or salary but that the working conditions should be better and that the patients who are promised free health care receive it.

‘They come to the hospital with nothing expecting free treatment but lo and behold they have to purchase almost everything needed for their survival.’

Sometimes, we take from our meager salaries and purchase these consumables for them not because we have to spare but because we cannot sit down and watch patients die because they can't afford them.

There is no shame in this, there is no hiding. We need help at PCMH.

What pained us the most was that the children's hospital in the same compound had a generator that provided power throughout the night, at the time the "cottage" hospital was in darkness.

If you're reading this and are passionate about maternal health, please help us get the help we need. Not on paper but physically that patients can benefit from!

Do not ask whether the authorities know because they do and maybe there's nothing, they can do so we need much bigger help.

The issues are numerous at PCMH, but yesterday's duty brought to light the very sad conditions under which clinicians are forced to work.

I've never done this before; I had complained to different individuals but not on such a large platform.

Maybe it's about time we get help.

P.S.: We had two maternal near misses and many other incidents during the on-call; thankfully, we managed them and had no mortality.

Thanks to all the staff who worked during the night of Monday 22nd April 2024: you all are heroes. May God bless the works of your hands.

'Una bear me,' I'm crying as I'm typing this:

 #e-mona

office of the minister: Ministry of health | Dated 24th April 2024

While no one takes responsibility at the Ministry of Health for the death of a child at the PCMH, the Ministry has acknowledged that health facilities across the country are faced with electricity challenges due to the ongoing electricity crisis.

There was a leadership challenge at PCMH, also, according to MoH.

These challenges have only now been addressed after the unfortunate death of the child, with the posting appointment on Wednesday, the 24th of April the Acting Medical Superintendent, Dr. Amadu Sesay, with immediate effect.

Thanks to all concerned citizens who reached out to us to voice their level of frustration with the current state of affairs in the motherland.

#Don't-Be-Afraid-to-Speak-Out