By Bida Elly David
The medical director of Al-Shabah children’s hospital said the facility has been overwhelmed and run shortage of medicines and patients bed for accommodating sick children.
The medical director is now urging the national government to send more doctors and extend government funding for effective service delivery saying the facility falls under the jurisdiction of the State but carries a bigger workload nationwide.
Speaking to the media yesterday, Alex Santino, the medical director of Al-Sabah children’s hospital said the capacity of the hospital has narrowed as the number of infant patients has increased in every ward.
He stated that the number of admitted patients in the children hospital wards has overwhelmed the total number of beds available leaving no option to other patients than sleeping on the floor.
“The capacity of beds in the admission wards cannot be compared to before. Formerly, wards used to admit 30 to 35 patients each but now, outpatient wards accommodate over 200 patients. Most of the organizations that used to supply us with medicines have stopped their donations and now the hospital has run into shortage of medicines,’’ he said
He added that the administration of the hospital falls under the jurisdiction of the state government while the work load reflected national duty due to its comprehensiveness.
“The responsibility of the hospital is under the state government. The state’s financial capacity is limited since the hospital runs comprehensive services of a national hospital where all children across the ten states are being referred to it” he noted.
“Its services is attending to any medical complication of children across the Country not the ten states in the Country. Meaning if other hospitals in the states identify serious complication, they refer them to the main children hospital in Juba. The work load of Al Shabah children hospital is bigger than the capacity of the state,’’ he stressed.
Santino further asked the national government to send more doctors to support in service delivery and called on well-wishers to extend their support to the main children health facility in the Country.
“Al-Shabah children hospital was formerly under old Sudan and later on owned by South Sudan government. The national government later on handed over the management of the hospital to the State government. We are calling on the government and people of good will to extend their support to the hospital,’’ he emphasized.