Annual report on the medical services / Sierra Leone.

  • Sierra Leone. Medical Department.
Date:
[1955]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report on the medical services / Sierra Leone. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    UNICEF has provided midwifery kits for these maternity assistants. The course includes lectures and demonstrations in the conducts of normal confinements and deliveries but the standard will be lower than that of registered midwives. On completion of the course, the trainees will be posted for duty with Native Authorities and the objective is to make it possible in some chiefdoms at least for every woman in labour to have the services of some one who has had some training in simple hygiene and the conduct of labour. 2—GOVERNMENT MEDICAL SERVICES Hospital Services 19. The Government medical service is responsible for the bulk of the country’s hospital services. There are base hospitals at Freetown and Bo, with rural hospitals either already in existence or now being built in the principal town of each Administrative District. Ancillary to the hospital services are a number of health centres for which District Councils now have financial responsibility with the aid of grants from the Government. A health centre contains dispensary, a small maternity and child welfare unit, and a sanitary office and store, with a staff of a dispenser, a midwife and a health inspector. 20. All institutions worked to full capacity during the course of the year despite shortage of staff and no institution was closed. In-patient admissions to Government hospitals during the past twelve months were approximately 12,200; out-patient and dispensary attendances were approximately 960,000. 21. While the development referred to in paragraph 7 is in pro¬ gress the Princess Christian Mission Hospital continues to serve as an extension of the Connaught Hospital to accommodate convalescent women. This arrangement has proved satisfactory in releasing much needed bed space in the Connaught Hospital until the Maternity Hospital is moved to the reconstructed P. C. M. Hospital. 22. Work has started on the Infectious Diseases Hospital at Lakka and is being financed from funds provided locally. 23. With a network of dispensaries and health centres spread over the country and linked to base hospitals centred in the main towns it is hoped that every area will in time be provided with medical facilities for the benefit of inhabitants in the area. This, however, will depend on funds available and its apportionment among essential priorities in the plan of development. Maternity And Child Welfare Services 24. The maternity units of the various Government institutions have worked to full capacity during the year and the need for increased facilities is still being felt. Every effort is, however, being made to improve the service in providing additional accommodation and staff for both institutional and domiciliary work and it is hoped that the position will be greatly eased when the development of the Princess Christian Mission Hospital referred to in paragraph 21 is completed together with the additional units referred to in last year’s report. 25. This has been the first full year of the Domiciliary Midwifery Service in Freetown. Clinics were held regularly and the service was well patronised. Eighty patients were recorded in the ante-natal clinic, twenty-seven of whom were delivered at home and forty-three admitted for complications.