By Ramatoulie Jawo
Staff at the Bundung Maternal & Child Health Hospital have appealed to the Minister of Health, Dr Ahmadou Lamin Samateh to rescind the redeployment of their CEO, Mr. Kebba Manneh.
They made the appeal at a press conference on Tuesday after their Chief Executive Officer on 21st February 2022, received a redeployment letter to Bwiam General Hospital from the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Health.
Speaking to journalists, Omar Ceesay, the Public Relations Office at the facility disclosed the efforts the hospital has taken to retain CEO Manneh.
“Since the news broke out, a task force of Heads of Units/Departments was formed with the sole aim of engaging the Minister of Health to reconsider his decision and let the staff continue working with the CEO to continue delivering quality healthcare services to women and children of The Gambia,” he said.
Ceesay added that the task force on 25th February 2022 wrote to the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Health in respect to Mr. Manneh’s redeployment and appealed for the decision to be rescinded.
“…Whilst waiting for a reply from the Ministry of Health, the Senior Management Team (SMT) led by The Deputy Chief Executive Officer met the Honorable Minister of Health, Dr. Samateh for a dialogue regarding his decision and appealed for him to rescind the decision,” he continued.
The PRO said the minister promised to look into the issue and get back to the SMT but when did a follow-up on 3rd March 2022, no positive result was obtained and the staff of the hospital are informed of the result.
Ceesay went on to say that on 7th March 2022, they obtained a reply from the PS which stated that ‘the move to redeploy the respective CEOs was for the good of the said institutions’.
“His statement was received with mixed emotions as BMCHH is the only government hospital whose current maternal mortality rate stands at 0.1% as of 2021, and Mr. Manneh equally is the only CEO who started the hospital he is leading from scratch (Health Post) and turned it into a center of excellence it is currently known for,” he said while reacting to the reply by the PS.
The staff encouraged all Gambians, including the beneficiaries of the hospital to appeal to Minister Samateh to rescind the deployment of CEO Manneh to Bwiam General Hospital .
Bundung Maternal and Child Health Hospital in Bundung, formerly Jammeh Foundation, situated in the Kanifing Municipality focuses on maternal and child health, among others. The services of the facility are sought by women and their families from various parts of the Greater Banjul Area.
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