Lofa County: Konia Regional Hospital has a surgeon but no medical tools to operate

By James Kokulo Fasuekoi|Editor-Publisher from Konia, Lofa County

It remains a plain truth, according to statistics, that for decades now, Liberia has been faced with a shortage of trained medical doctors that would cater to the medical needs of the country’s fast-growing population following two brutal civil wars. 

However, the story seems totally different in the northern remote Liberian town of Konia, situated right along the Zorzor-Voinjama Highway in Lofa County. There, the region’s main hospital, Konia Health Center, has a qualified doctor capable of doing a surgery but no proper medical “tools” to do so.

“Constructing the hospital is one thing; supplying it [with its medical needs] is another,” he remarked in reference to his healthcare center’s desperate need for surgical tools. 

Dr. Kaly Jean, the lead doctor who has been working there since 2022, told a visiting JNB Foundation team Thursday (Sept. 11), that his hospital even has a surgical bed, with a fairly cooling AC system powered by solar panels to carry out the job except that no implements to do surgery.

Konia Hospital, the biggest regional healthcare center in the area, he said, serves over 12,000 patients some of whom cross over from the Republic of Guinea which is quite close to Konia itself. 

For now, Dr. Kaly Jean says he’s forced to transfer patients arriving with surgical needs either to the Zorzor Curran Lutheran Hospital (located south of Konia), or to Lofa County’s main regional hospital, Tellewonyan Hospital in Voinjama.

Dr. Jean appealed for surgical tools to work in addition to hospital beds to serve his growing patients. 

Earlier, the JNB Foundation’s deputy chief executive, Mr. Henry Flanpor presented an additional child-delivery bed plus a hospital bed to augment what’s already at hand. 

Mr. Flanpor also gave a package to the center consisting of assorted medical goods and promised that his foundation would work with the various districts in order to tackle such issues as the shortages of surgical implements and hospital beds. 

Editor’s Note: James Kokulo Fasuekoi is Communications Director with the JNB Foundation

ALL PHOTOS BY JAMES KOKULO FASUEKOI