Voinjama, Lofa – A modern Infectious Disease Unit (IDU) valued at US$350,000 has been dedicated on the compound of the Tellewoyan Memorial Hospital in Voinjama City, in Liberia’s northern Lofa County.
The unit was constructed by the Jusuma Construction Company in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and its partners, the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), with funding from the World Bank.
UNOPS is an operational arm of the United Nations, dedicated to implementing projects for the United Nations System, international financial institutions, governments and other partners worldwide.
The modern IDU, per term, is expected to cater for over 17 isolated patients who may be suffering from different infectious diseases.
Speaking over the weekend during the dedicatory ceremony of the modern health facility, World Bank health specialist Dr. Munirat Ogunlayi, pledged the Bank’s commitment to strengthening Liberia’s health care delivery system.
Dr. Ogunlayi named sea-erosion threatened Redemption Hospital in Monrovia, the Phebee Hospital in Bong County and the Tellewoyan Memorial Hospital in Lofa County as hospitals where World Bank has sponsored the construction of Infectious Disease Units.
“Although construction work on the IDU in Phebee has not been completed but has reached about 70 percent and when completed it will also help provide treatments for Liberians from Infectious Diseases,” she added.
She also cautioned authorities at the Tellewoyan Memorial Hospital and staffers there to make maximum use of the center, saying the IDU stationed at the hospital was not constructed to only cater for Ebola but that it was meant to solve other cases such as cholera, diarrhea, among other related diseases.
Receiving from UNOPS and World Bank, the keys to the IDU on behalf of the Government of Liberia (GoL), from the Director of County Health Services at the Ministry of Health, Dr. Lorraine C. Cooper lauded the efforts made by the two institutions
She applauded UNOPS and the World Bank for what she termed as good partners to the GoL in promoting the country’s health care delivery system.
Dr. Cooper promised the Ministry of Health will ensure that the newly inaugurated IDU will be properly maintained and used for its intended purpose.
“We can assure you our donors that this center will be fully used to the maximum capacity,” Dr. Cooper vowed.
Also speaking at the occasion, was Tellewoyan Memorial Hospital Board Chairman, Cllr. Robert K. Borlay, who thanked the World Bank, UNOPS and the Ministry of Health for the construction of the IDU, noting that the project was the first of its kind to be initiated at the hospital in Voinjama.
Cllr. Borlay urged officials and the staff of Tellewoyan Memorial Hospital to maintain the center properly.
Earlier, Tellewoyan Memorial Hospital Chief Medical Officer, Dr. James Korvieh expressed gratitude to the GoL and it partners including the World Bank and UNOPS for the project, promising that the center could be used properly.
Dr. Korvieh used the occasion to call on the Ministry of Health to help build the capacities of health workers at the Tellewoyan Memorial Hospital who will be assigned at the IDU.
He indicated that based on its location, the Tellewoyan Memorial Hospital is the only referral hospital in Liberia catering to a very huge load of cases from Lofa and other parts of the country, and as well as from neighboring countries including Guinea and Sierra Leone.
