The Freeman Health Care Foundation (FHCF), based in America in collaboration with the Center for Research and Advocacy on Women and Adolescent Health (CRAWAH) The Gambia last Wednesday donated medical items to various public health institutions in the country.

Beneficiaries included Bundung Maternal Hospital, Fajikunda Health Center, Serekunda Health Center, Kanifing General Hospital and Small Edward Francis Teaching Hospital (EFSTH), Nursing School and the Tanka Tanka psychiatric hospital.

The items included vital signs devices, personal protective equipment (PPE), diabetic kits, reusable sanitary napkins, among others.

Receiving boxes of gloves which were among the items donated to Kanifing General Hospital, Baboucar Saine, hospital administrator thanked the donors for the gesture, declaring: “Valuable items are very important for the hospital. “.

He added that they use PPE when providing services to patients to avoid cross-contamination that can be transmitted by the patient or the service provider.

He called the gesture very timely given the Covid-19 and other diseases. He said they spend between D300,000 and D500,000 per month on gloves. “This will save us costs and ensure that the money is used to buy other valuables,” he added.

The hospital administrator assured donors that the items will be put to good use. He said Kanifing General Hospital is one of the largest and busiest hospitals in the country. On the statistics at the maternity ward, every day on average, “25 babies give birth here in our maternity ward. And on average we perform no less than three to four Caesarean sections. Thus, you cannot give birth with bare hands without wearing gloves. . “

Mr. Saine therefore urged other Gambians in the country and in the diaspora to unite to help the country’s public health institutions change the discourse and move the country forward.

Jerome Freeman, founder of the Massachusetts, US-based Freeman Health Care Foundation (FHCF) revealed the donation was made possible by family and friends.

He said it was his intention that the foundation and his partner donate annually or quarterly.

He revealed that his goal is not only to donate medical supplies and consumables, but also to volunteer at some public health facilities and exchange ideas with health workers and patients.

He stressed that the goal of the donation is to make patients and healthcare workers safer and healthier.

Mr Freeman revealed that they have distributed more than 24,000 gloves to some public health facilities, while pending vital signs devices and PPE, diabetic kit supplies, reusable sanitary napkins, model of Cardiovascular practice for nursing students, the digestive practice model for nursing students, among other medical items will be distributed upon arrival in the first week of January 2022.

Kebbah Sanneh, public relations manager at EFSTH, expressed his gratitude on behalf of the hospital when he took donors on a brief tour of the hospital.

Phebian Ina Grant-Sagnia, founder of CRAWAH, also praised the efforts of the FHCF and assured the grantees to get the pending articles.

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