The Sierra Leone delegation in Senegal on a learning mission on Universal Health Coverage and Health Insurance have today Tuesday March 1, 2022 engaged the Ministry of Health and Social Action and the Ministry of Community Development, Social and Territorial Equity respectively.
At the Ministry of Health at their Fann office, the delegation was received by the Minister Abdoulaye Diouf Sarr where Dr. Fatou Mbaye Sylla explained to the delegation about Senegal’s health care schemes.
She explained that Senegal operates a free health care system defined around five packages entailing children under five, people above 60 years, women doing caesarean operation, those on cancer treatment and dialysis. Dr. Sylla said the essence of making those packages free was to reduce infant and maternal deaths.
Speaking on the governance structure of the Ministry of Health in Senegal, Dr. Oumy Kalsoum said the governance structure enables the structures to operate paving the way for sufficient drugs and ensuring hospitals have the right medications.
She also spoke of an effective monitoring and evaluation process that ensures the cost they bring should not affect the end result. She stated further that if attention was not paid to this, it will affect the financing aspect .
The delegation was also hosted by the Ministry of Community Development, Social and Territorial Equity at their Diamniado office where the Minister, Samba Ndiobene Ka expressed his ministry’s willingness to offer further technical support even where it requires them to go to Sierra Leone. There were presentations from the ministry on the emergency community development programs and the socio-economic context of the country and rationale for the programs.
To see how health care delivery is decentralised, the delegation will tomorrow visit the Construction of a new hospital in Touba, 194 Km from Dakar. The Touba hospital is a state-of-the-arts hospital with high level medical delivery on general surgery, traumatological orthopedics, urology, ORL, ophthalmology, intensive care and sterilization.
