IPNews-Monrovia,Liberia-31 July 2018: Dr. Jefferson Sibley, is calling for urgent attention from the government of Liberia and partners in rescuing the hospital from total collapse.
Dr. Sibley stated that the Phebe referral hospital in Suakoko, Bong County, is in currently in dire need for assistance to help keep the hospital alive.
He said the hospital is currently in need of laboratory equipment, essential drugs and electricity to improve its health service delivery.
Dr. Sibley told this paper in Suakoko yesterday that over the past years the hospital has incurred a little over US$300,000 as debt to vendors.
He call for government’s adequate budgetary allocation for the hospital to ensure the hospital effectively run to meet the health needs of patients.
He said that the hospital uses monthly, 6,000 gallons of fuel, which is causing the hospital huge sums of money.
Dr. Sibley added, “Because of this, we are indebted to our vendors who do not want to trust us any longer with supply of fuel.
“Without electricity, we will not be able to run this hospital, because running an institution of such on generators is cost intensive,” Dr. Sibley emphasized.
As for the Paramedical School, Dr. Sibley said the school needs US$800,000 to effectively operate annually, “but during the last fiscal year, the school received US$100,000, forcing the administration to slice money from what is being allotted to the hospital in the budget just to run the school.
“Few years back, government mandated us to run this institution free-of-charge, with the sole strategy of bridging the human resource gap existing in our health system. Things went fine during those years, with the support of our partners; but right now, partners have suffered funding fatigue, so funding for this school is now squarely in the hands of the government which is not adequate,” Dr. Sibley explained.
He said that Phebe Hospital is now faced with huge challenges, which include the sewer system and the supply of electricity. He said at certain times of the day, the administration gives electric power to strategic parts of the hospital, including the operating theaters, in order to reduce the workload on the machine.
