JFK appeals for Doctors

The head for internal medicines at nation’s biggest hospital, the John F. Kennedy Hospital in Sinkor, Monrovia Dr. Philip Z. Ireland, has stressed the need for more Doctors and health workers at the hospital.

Dr. Ireland said giving the daily influx of patients at the J.F.K., more Doctors are needed to cope with the caseload. Speaking with The NewDawn on Monday, 7 September in the hospital compound, Dr. Ireland further disclosed shortage of beds, which hinders the admission of more patients, saying, “Sometimes when the patients are many, it make us confused and [we] don’t know where to lay them due to lack of beds in the hospital, but we’re doing our very best.”

Dr. Ireland said for the first time Liberia is training her own specialists, which is good, noting that when there are qualified specialists in the country, they will treat patients with critical cases right here rather than sending them out of the country.

He said the administration of the J.F.K. and the Ministry of Health are working out a plan to transform the hospital. He challenged Liberians to take ownership of the hospital, reminding that that J.F.K. belongs to everybody; “Do not come only when you are sick, but anything you think you can do for J.F.K., come and find out where the problems are and [help] to find solutions.”

The John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital, named in honor of former U.S. President, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, was constructed in the 60s by the United States Government under a bilateral agreement. It had served as a major referral hospital for West Africa prior to the outbreak of the Liberian Civil War in 1989.

But due to the civil war, the hospital suffered serious brain drain and infrastructural collapse like many other institutions here. The recent Ebola outbreak also added to its woes.

By Bridgett Milton – Editing by Jonathan Browne