Over $7,200…. DMO exposes ad hoc committee

The District Medical Officer (DMO), Kono, Dr. Francis Jayah on Friday 12^th July 2013 informed the media at a press conference held at the New City Hall in Koidu about the outcome of their investigations in relation to the $7,200 annual payment to the District Health Management Team (DHMT).

He enlightened that the Ad-Hoc Committee setup by the Koidu New Sembehun City on the $7,200 annual payment to the District Health Management Team (DHMT) exposed officials of the Committee as alleged saboteurs of not only Koidu but the entire District.

The Chairman of the ad hoc committee, Reverend Sahr Christian Fayia, in his overview of the report, revealed that the money paid by UNIPSIL was not used for its intended purpose adding, “successive DMOs diverted the money into clandestine projects at the detriment of the hospital. Furthermore, there was clear indication that some former senior administrative officials of the City Council were involved in the syndicate.”

Reverend Sahr Christian Fayia stated that the Committee recommended that the DMO must repay the money into the hospital’s account to be used for its intended purpose of managing the primary healthcare program and not for maintenance of vehicles or other purposes.

Health Alert Coordinator, Patrick Fayia Mansaray revealed that the DMO disclosed to the Committee that the money was used to overhaul a 15 kva generator that was donated to the hospital by the UNHCR; repair a Toyota Land Cruiser with registration number ABX 255 donated to the hospital by IRC disregarding the fact that the money paid by UNIPSIL was meant to purchase fuel for the generator and repair of vehicles.

Responding to the allegations levied against him by the Committee, the DMO said he was surprised to see the Chairman deviating from the fact of the matter after having congratulated him for a job well done by repairing the generator that had been abandoned for four years and the vehicle donated to the hospital by IRC because he was in “the company of his peers.”

The DMO went on to explain that when he took up office in September last year, he inherited a hospital without a working vehicle and requested one from the Ministry.

He further stated that he was reliably informed that the IRC had earlier donated one vehicle to the hospital that was abandoned at a private garage owned by one T-Man around Pimbi Lane in Koidu.

According to the DMO, the vehicle was abandoned as a ploy to tender and sell it to one of the officials thereby depriving the hospital of a vehicle.

The DMO further disclosed that he honored the agreement related to the use of the $7,200 adding, “as Manager, I used my discretion to provide services needed by patients and staff at the hospital despite the unavailability of funds to run the institution at the time, the reason I pre-financed the repairs of the abandoned and vandalized generator and vehicle.”

He continued to observe that the two reports of the so-called investigations by the Council’s Health and Ad Hoc Committees were contradictory and confusing and pointed out that the self-styled Hospital Board Chairman, a Francis Gbondo Penipani wants his Kono brother, Dr. Tamba Tennyson Lebbie, to succeed him.

He went on to state that according to the Local Government Act of 2004, all Hospital Boards have been dissolved as the Ministry of Health has devolved the functions of hospitals to Local Councils which now supervise them through Health Committees.

He also underscored the impossibility of Dr. Lebbie becoming a DMO because the holder must meet some criteria-particularly satisfactory performance at both practical and theoretical medical examinations.

Concluding, he confirmed that since he assumed office, he has never executed any function without the knowledge of the Councils and the DHMT and asserted that the whole scheme was machinated based on ethnicity which all his predecessors have been subjected to at the detriment of the District.

By Abdul R. Bedor Kamra

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