The visiting medical team, which is on a five-day working visit, is in the country to learn from Gambia’s success stories in the implementation of its oxygen plants installed in various health facilities across the country.
In his introductory remarks, Dr. Ababucarr Jagne, deputy chief medical director at Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital, who led the visiting team to the minister of Health, acknowledged that the Gambia has gone far with respect to different phases in acquiring oxygen plants and that the Cape Verdean team is in the country to familiarise themselves with the processes of these plants.
“We already have two operational oxygen plants and we also have the installation of which is almost done. So they want to see phases of the installation to see an operation and learn from it before Cape Verde installed their oxygen plants.”
Avery Doninger, senior project manager at Built Health Installation (BHI), explained that BHI is an agency that works with Global Fund when it comes to the installation of Oxygen Plants in hospitals, saying the agency was contracted to provide technical assistance to BHI recipient countries such as Cape Verde and The Gambia in the installation of oxygen plants in hospitals.
For his part, Artur Goncalves, biomedical engineer at the Ministry of Cape Verde, thanked the host for the warm reception accorded them, saying when BHI presented The Gambia as the country to do a case study in the installation of its oxygen plants, they didn’t hesitate in view of its geographic location and as close neighbours.
The project, he added, is a big investment in their national health care delivery service and that the visit is to acquaint themselves with not only the best practises but also some of the challenges. “The visit would also foster knowledge sharing between health experts in Cape Verde and The Gambia.”
Welcoming the delegation, Dr. Ahmadou Lamin Samateh, expressed delight to receive the team from Cape Verde, saying that the move is part of the collaboration between Banjul and Praia.
The two countries, he acknowledged, are both small countries and share similar challenges.
“Cape Verde I must say has done very well and we are happy that you have come to see your brother and what we are doing. This is an example of south-south cooperation whereby we share best practises. Because our environments are similar likewise our challenges, we might be at different levels of development, but we have passed same processes to get to where we are.”
Minister Samateh applauded the government of President Barrow for his remarkable commitment to the development of The Gambia’s health care services.
“We are looking at it in three dimensions and one is health infrastructure; where we are upgrading the old and dilapidated ones by expanding and modernising them. But equally speaking, we are building newer ones to enhance access so that more people have access to quality health care services.
He recalled old days when he used to work in the theatre, noting that those were days when there was one functional machine for the whole hospital.
The minister spoke highly of the gains made under the leadership of President Barrow in ensuring quality health care service for Gambians.
Minister Samateh underscored the importance of oxygen in any operation in the theatre, recalling that few years ago the country used to face challenges in oxygen and that the only alternative was to import it from Senegal.
“Apart from the reliability of the supply, it is very expensive. This is why we started the drive to have these plants.”
He equally spoke about the importance of capacity building in any development endeavour, adding that Gambia cannot be where it was before.
The visiting team was taken on conducted tour of oxygen plants at EFSTH and Ndemban Clinic in Bakau.
