Fire at MOH again

Less than a month after the National Drugs Service (NDS) and Laboratory at the John F. Kennedy Medical Center were gutted by fire, the central office of the Ministry of Health (MOH) situated in Oldest Congo Town was on Thursday, 22 June engulfed in flames.

A female MOH security, who asked for anonymity, narrates that they only saw smoke coming out of the Ministry and immediately alerted the Liberia National Fire Service (LNFS), which moves in and brought the disaster under control.

She continues that the fire affected the Monitoring and Evaluation Department of the Ministry along with other parts, leaving properties destroyed. LNFS officials at the incident scene declined to speak on the issue, as they were conducting an investigation to establish the actual cause of the fire.

The incident has caused serious setback to the MOH, especially the M & E floor of the building where important data of the country’s health sector are kept. The Monitoring and Evaluation Department is responsible to monitor and report on constraints and activities of Government of Liberia (GOL) health facilities across the country.

This is the second fire incident specifically within the Ministry of Health, causing damages to the institution. About two or three years ago, fire similarly attacked the ministry.
Eyewitnesses are pondering over the strange fire phenomenon that has engulfed the health sector in recent times, leaving properties worth thousands of dollars destroyed.

They want authorities of the ministry to ensure that result of the ongoing investigation is made public to provide a clearer picture of what led to the fire outbreak at the institution for the second time.

By Emmanuel Mondaye-Editing by Jonathan Browne