Ambassador Yongawo Discusses Sierra Leone’s Healthcare and Sanitation With Russia’s Ministry of Health
Korovy Val Moscow, Russia — Monday 4 October 2021* — His Excellency Ambassador Mohamed Yongawo has discussed the Sierra Leone Healthcare and Sanitation Situation with Russia’s Deputy Minister of Health, Hon. Oleg Gridnev in the Health Ministry’s Conference Room in Moscow, Russia.
Ambassador Yongawo used the occasion to express gratitude to Russia for its role in helping train so many Sierra Leoneans specialists particularly medical doctors.
The Ambassador registered his profound appreciation for Russia’s help in periods of health emergencies. He noted for example: “Russia has been very helpful to Sierra Leone. During the Ebola outbreak, the Federation provided appreciable financial and medical support to the country,”
Adding: “At the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia gave Sierra Leone 10,000 test kits; for 100,000 tests. I received the kits on behalf of my government and took the package to Sierra Leone. The President and his team were very happy to receive those tests kits, which helped greatly, more so at the early onset of COVID-19"
Ambassador Yongawo furthered: “Hon. Deputy Minister, as you are aware, Sierra Leone has undergone many difficulties over the years; we had 11 years of civil war that destroyed everything, including our infrastructure, hospitals and clinics. We also lost a lamentable number of medical doctors and nurses during the war.”
HE Yongawo mentioned that Sierra Leone is suffering from inequitable access to quality emergencies and secondary and tertiary care services.
“Most hospitals are old and do not support modern technology,” he stressed. Adding that, investment in building, operating, and managing modernized hospital facilities is a key priority of the government. Investment to address staff shortages, improve infrastructure and operational expertise, and introduce or expand a spectrum of accessible and affordable clinical services is critical.”
According to Ambassador Yongawo, poor access to good quality laboratory and imaging services is resulting in huge expenditure on overseas treatment through government financing and OOP. “Poor access to quality diagnostics services, including the diagnostic centre which includes: MRI, CT scan, X-ray, ECG, Endoscopy, Ultrasound, Histology, Microbiology and Pathology coupled with the non-existence of imaging specialists continues to exist as strong government priorities,” the ambassador emphasised.
Ambassador Yongawo also pointed out the need for “a scalable national imaging centre with telecommunication links that can support public and private health facilities in the cities as well as in rural areas.”
“The government is doing a lot but is looking to do much more,” he went on.
He also explained that Sierra Leone needs specialized treatment centres like cancer facilities, revealing that a lot of women suffer from sexual assault and abuse, but the lack of DNA machines to test evidence remains a regrettable limiting factor.
The Ambassador went on to advocate for some level of collaboration and cooperation between the healthcare systems of Russia and Sierra Leone. “Hon Minister, Russia has got a specialized Laboratory in Guinea for tropical diseases. I am appealing to your Ministry to consider expanding that laboratory’s operations to Sierra Leone,” ambassador Yongawo stated.
The Ambassador also pointed out that yearly, Russia invites 3 Medical Doctors to do specialized training in Moscow, and he suggested that Russia should consider conducting the training in Sierra Leone and inviting other African countries’ medical doctors to join the program in Sierra Leone.
He continued: “Our presence here today is to strengthen our cooperation with the Ministry of Health in the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Health and Sanitation in Sierra Leone”
“Hon. Deputy Minister, maybe your ministry can invite your Sierra Leonean counterpart to engage your Ministry, and develop a Memorandum of Understanding which would be of benefit to both countries.”
Ambassador Yongawo used the occasion to express gratitude to RUDN University. He informed the minister that for the past two years RUDN University Authorities have been giving 15 scholarships to Sierra Leonean students to study Medicine in their University.
Ambassador Yongawo also presented the Updated COVID-19 Sierra Leone Situation Report to the Deputy Minister and his team of medical experts, who were part of the meeting at the Ministry’s Conference Hall in Moscow.
He further explained how the government has been able to manage the pandemic, pointing out that Sierra Leone is among the few countries that have low death rates and its recovery rate is very high. He emphasised that this success is being achieved because, through the proactive leadership of President Julius Maada Bio, the government of Sierra Leone has been able to supervise Medical practitioners who have effectively worked with the people, encouraging them to heed the prevailing medical advice given by World Health Organization (WHO).
The Deputy Minister of Health, Hon. Oleg Gridnev thanked Ambassador Mohamed Yongawo for the eloquent presentation of the Healthcare situation in his country and expressed satisfaction that Sierra Leone and the sub-region benefited from Russian made Ebola vaccines and other humanitarian assistance in 2014 when the virus broke out and killed thousands of people.
Concerning the Laboratory in Guinea, the minister promised the request would be discussed at a higher government level.
The Deputy Minister went further to state that every year Russia offers scholarship opportunities to Sierra Leoneans to study in different fields including medicine and that this shall continue.
“We are happy to train specialists, but for now, we can only do it via video conferences as we are all aware of the pandemic,” the Deputy Minister added.“We are ready to help the Ministry of Health in your country, especially during this difficult COVID-19 period.”
The Deputy Minister promised to collaborate and work with the Ministry of Health and Sanitation of Sierra Leone, and he believed that both countries will benefit from such a partnership.
The meeting was attended by top Ministry of Health officials and Sierra Leone’s diplomatic and local staff who accompanied Ambassador Yongawo.
By Festus J. Lahai, Information Attache’
Moscow, Russian Federation