The COVID-19 pandemic also has hit Sierra Leone. Even worse the first hospital in the northern region of Sierra Leone was the hospital of City Garden Clinic (CGC), the hospital which Smarter-Hospital supports. Because of one patient with COVID-19 the CGC needed to be isolated for 2 weeks and no new patients could be admitted.
In cooperation with CGC and our Dutch partner Wilde Ganzen we set-up a new project, to protect the employee’s of CGC and keep the CGC open in case of new COVID-19 patient. Our partner Wilde Ganzen set up a special Corona fund where organizations could apply for support of initiatives and projects to contain the spread of the virus and get it under control. For approved projects the applying organization has to raise half of the required funding and Wilde Ganzen will donate the remaining 50%.
With the Corona pandemic there was a big need for more isolation rooms while the construction of the waste facility, which was orginal part of Renovation CGC phase 1, became more urgent.
All in all this led to now 3 projects which all are supported by Wilde Ganzen.
Project 1: Preparing City Garden Clinic for the fight against Corona
The project under the Wilde Ganzen Corona fund, worth € 50,000 consists of three sub-projects
- Construction of an isolation facility with a capacity of 8 beds in a separate building
- Construction of a fenced off waste processing facility with a medical waste incinerator, a closed pit for ashes, a closed pit for needles and sharps and a closed pit for placenta and body tissue. The facility is located on a plot of land belonging to the hospital outside Makeni
- Acquisition of a large supply of Personnel Protective Equipment (PPE) and cleaning materials and hospital furniture (beds etc.) for the isolation rooms.
For the construction activities Mosmed Construction & General Services was contracted with the contract signed in June 2020 while the actual construction started in July after some delay due to the then prevailing Corona travel restrictions in Sierra Leone. The project is finished in November 2020.
Project 2: Renovation City Garden Clinic, Makeni, Sierra Leone.
The original project proposal for the renovation of the oldest parts of the hospital was amended, submitted to Wilde Ganzen and has met approval. The agreed budget amounts to close to 43,000 €. Smarter Hospital has raised her part of the funding (28,650 €) which Wilde Ganzen will supplement to the required total budget. The local building contractor Mosmed Construction and General Services will be contracted for the project implementation which is expected to start in November 2020.
The project consists of two main parts:
1. Construction of a separate building to accommodate a digital X-ray.
It is intended to acquire a digital X-ray machine under the Extension of diagnostic and treatment project. For this equipment a separate building has to be constructed. Since Mosmed Construction will be working on the renovation, from an Economy of Effort viewpoint it has been decided to construct this building at the same time.
2. Renovation and major maintenance of the two lower floors of the hospital.
These activities encompass amongst others:
- Painting outer walls, doors and metal work (whole hospital)
- Inside painting
- Plastering and painting front fence
- Plastering of ceilings where necessary
- Replacing all internal doors
- Re-tiling ground floor
- Re-tiling all sanitary spaces
- Major maintenance of complete sanitary and plumbing installation
- Expansion of Laboratory space
Project 3: Extension of diagnostic and treatment possibilities in City Garden Clinic
The aim of this project is to expand the diagnostic and treatment options at the City Garden Clinic hospital in Makeni, Sierra Leone. The project was developed in collaboration with dr. ABD Sesay of City Garden Clinic and is supported by Stichting Wilde Ganzen in the Netherlands. For every 100 € donated, 50 € will be added by the Wilde Ganzen. The total budget we need for this project is 60,000 € The project mainly consists of the purchase of the following equipment:
1. Blood bank refrigerator, to support heavier operations
2. Solar panels to generate electricity sustainably
3. Various medical equipment and training in this.
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