By Bosco Bush
Yei River County Commissioner Emmanuel Taban Seme is appealing to the state government for urgent support for Yei Civil Hospital, highlighting several challenges that are currently hindering the operations of the health facility.
On Monday, Commissioner Seme met with the governor of Central Equatoria State to discuss the issue, as well as the overall security situation in the county.
During the meeting, he outlined ongoing initiatives being implemented by local authorities in collaboration with partners and humanitarian agencies operating in the county.
Commissioner Seme specifically stressed that there is shortage of both medical supplies and space at the hospital, which is impacting the quality of care provided to the community.
“Some challenges faced by the county, essentially on lack of enough medicine and space to accommodate patients in Yei Civil Hospital,” he said.
He added that the County authorities are doing their best in responding to the concerns in the county and “appealed for further support from the State government.”
Last month, the Medical Director for Yei Civil Hospital, Dr. Morbe Taban lamented the lack of some critical medical equipment including drugs and fuel.
Dr. Taban painted a bleak picture of the situation at the hospital, describing it as “not good” and unfavourable for effective operations.
He explained that the recent consignment of medical supplies received by the hospital was not intended for the main facility, but rather for the primary healthcare services.
“We received a consignment that’s not for the Hospital, it’s for Primary Health Care. But we reported to them that actually, we need drugs. This is not for us because that consignment lacks some of the essential items like gauze, and you know here we are like a referral hospital,” Taban said.
The lack of critical supplies, such as gauze, surgical gloves, normal saline, and syringes, has severely hampered the hospital’s ability to manage the influx of patient referrals from surrounding areas, including Morobo, Lainya, and even the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.
“Now we have an emergency, we don’t have gauze, we don’t have surgical gloves, we don’t have normal saline, and we don’t have a syringe,” Taban lamented.
The hospital’s power situation is also a challenge, as the large generator it relies on consumes about 4 litres of fuel per hour, exceeding the monthly operational budget of only 1 million South Sudanese Pounds amid the skyrocketing fuel prices to over SSP 5,000 per litre in Yei.
Dr. Taban recounted a recent experience where the hospital had to perform about 10 operations in a single week, including several critical C-section procedures, which required the availability of essential medical equipment.
The Medical Director appealed to the state’s Ministry of Health, as well as donors and partners, to urgently intervene and support Yei Civil Hospital with the necessary medical equipment and resources to ensure the facility can continue to serve the healthcare needs of the county.
Yei Civil Hospital is one of the state’s main referral hospitals serving patients from greater Morobo, Lainya, Kajo-Keji and Yei River.