By Demba Ali Jawo
Listening to the ongoing debate on whether the State House deserves a hospital to be provided by the Chinese government, as announced by President Adama Barrow when he returned from the FOCAC summit recently held in Beijing, I tend to agree with the views expressed by Pa Samba Jow that it is not only a misplaced priority, but the idea is quite insensitive to the plight of ordinary Gambians.
While both the Chief of Staff, Mod Ceesay and the Special Adviser, Momodou Sabally tried their level best to rebut the views expressed by Pa Samba and justify the project as a priority, but the Chief of Staff even went on to accuse Pa Samba of being disrespectful to the presidency and those working at State House, simply for commenting on such a legitimate issue of concern.
Does it really matter whether the proposed project is a hospital as announced by President Barrow himself or a clinic as said by Ceesay and Sabally? The simple truth is that it is still not a priority to spend any resources on building such a facility exclusively for the State House, especially when there are areas of the country where pregnant women still continue to use donkey carts to try and access health facilities, while even those existing health facilities lack the most basic drugs and equipment.
“Probably they want to get the Chinese to provide them with the most modern health facilities for themselves, their families and friends while the rest of the population will continue to endure the ever-deteriorating medical facilities,” said a critic of the government.
It certainly does not make any sense to construct a clinic inside the premises of the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital (EFSTH), according to Ceesay, exclusively for the State House. Why can those at the State House also not use the same facilities available at the EFSTH like everyone else?
It would be quite interesting to see how the public would react to a well-stocked facility inside the premises of the EFSTH marked ‘State House Clinic’, catering only to the First Family and other staff of the State House and their families while the rest of us would continue to use the poor facilities available at the hospital. If that is not apartheid, I wonder what it could be. Therefore, with all due respects to the Chief of Staff, if anyone should be accused of disrespect, then it would be those seeking to provide themselves with modern health facilities while disregarding the plight of ordinary Gambians.