Information from Cape Mount’s St. Timothy Government Hospital suggests that a lack of electricity is paralyzing normal health care delivery at the only referral health facility in the county.

A pharmacist at the hospital, who spoke anonymously to The Bush Chicken for fear of retaliation, said St. Timothy has been in darkness for close to a month due to a lack of allotment from the government to purchase fuel. That has driven surgical operations to a standstill.

“The situation is life threatening and needs urgent intervention,” the pharmacist said.

Health workers at the hospital now use battery-operated lights to attend to patients at night, the pharmacist said, adding that some lawmakers from the county recently donated coupons for fuel, but those only lasted for a week.

When Aaron B. Massaley, the hospital’s administrator, was contacted via phone, he said the health facility had not received any allotment from the government since October 2017 although the outage began much more recently.

Aaron B. Massaley, the administrator at the St. Timothy Government Hospital in Cape Mount. Photo: Mark Rogers

“The hospital has been without electricity since April 1,” Massaley explained.

He validated the pharmacist’s statements and said two lawmakers had provided approximately 200 gallons of fuel but those have since been used.

“The situation is challenging because the hospital cannot properly function in the absence of electricity outage,” Massaley said, noting that the hospital was trying to purchase more battery-powered lights.

While the hospital has had a 600-watt solar system since 2009, Massaley said the system is not currently functioning. He said he would seek assistance from businesses operating in the county.

“We are also planning to meet with the management of Sime Darby and Avesoro Resources to help in the process,” he said.

Francis Kateh, Liberia’s chief medical officer, did not respond to calls about the issue. Sorbor George, the director of communications at the Ministry of Health, said he could not provide any information.

Featured photo by Dominic Chavez/World Bank