Bogus hospitals shut down
2009-09-04 13:06
Freetown - A special Sierra Leone government health task force on Thursday cracked down on 48 health facilities in the capital Freetown, alleging they were "illegal and unregistered to operate as hospitals".
The registrar of the Medical and Dental Council, Edward Nahim cited "many complaints" regarding "serious complications and deaths" among patients at facilities staffed by improperly trained doctors, nurses and dentists.
One popular treatment, he said by telephone, was "flushing", in which intravenous drips are used as purported cures for malaria and typhoid.
"If anything, they are only loading your system with fluid which is dangerous," he said.
He also spoke of an instance in which a surgeon from an unregistered hospital "amputated the sex organ of a patient, including his testicles, who was diagnosed with appendicitis."
Many of the suspect hospitals and clinics - favoured by low-income or jobless Sierra Leoneans who cannot afford mainstream health care - are run by nationals of China, Egypt and Pakistan.
Sierra Leone's health care system was left in tatters by a decade of civil war that ended in 2001. With many doctors emigrating abroad, the government has recruited health professionals from Cuba and Nigeria to fill the gap.