Health, like the rest of all the sectors that feature prominently in President Jammeh’s development master plan of The Gambia, has received a tremendous boost. Again, like all the other sectors, accessibility and affordability to those that matter, the Gambian people, who are always at the fore when it comes to provision of key services, have been a central concern of the Jammeh administration.

The Gambia’s health care delivery system revolves around the principle of primary health care system - the provision of basic, essential and quality health care services, which are made universally accessible and affordable to every citizen. To President Jammeh and his government, cost, as an inhibiting factor, has equity implications. He sees no way that this is going to serve as an obstacle to his ambition. So, a D5 consultation fee, the lowest in the whole of Africa, is the only sum charged, and patients with chronic conditions are given medical care at gratis.

And something unique to this country is that the health planning process caters for a special provision for communities to define and pursue their own priorities, in ways that are compatible to their values, all geared towards meeting local needs. This is an approach that seeks to embrace the people centred development model.

As a way of boosting accessibility, in addition to the two colonial-time-built referral hospitals (RVTH and Bansang Hospital), the APRC government has built four new hospitals so far (The AFPRC General Hospital in Farafenni; Sulayman Junkung Hospital in Bwiam; the Paediatric Hospital in Kanilai; and, recently, the Serrekunda Hospital).

The government also built forty (40) major health centres and five hundred (500) Village Health Posts; and, to crown it all, the School of Medicine of the University of The Gambia was established, by and large, to serve as a vehicle for the provision of home-grown doctors. Already, two batches of well-trained and disciplined graduates of that pioneering institution have been inaugurated.

The justification for declaring health a topmost priority for the government of President Yahya Jammeh can be deduced from the record reductions that have been achieved in terms of both morbidity and mortality rates in the country.  Infant mortality has drastically fallen by 54%, due largely to effective malaria control programs and integrated programs in childhood illnesses.

The massive reduction in morbidity and mortality is obviously as a result of the massive increase in the number of medical personnel (medical doctors, nurses and laboratory technicians), coupled with a parallel increase in access, as well as an augmented level of awareness among the masses.

The public health sector, which had only seven medical doctors before the advent of the 22nd July revolution, presently boasts of 300 medical doctors. This has drastically impacted on the doctor/patient ratio in the dispensation of the health delivery services, which is arguably matchless in the rest of the continent.

In his steady quest to standardize the health sector, and to strengthen the curative services of the driving force behind the success story of the country’s health sector, President Jammeh has never relented in ensuring that his government lays hand on the best facilities available. For instance, the procurement of some state-of-the-art bio-medical equipment (haemodialysis machine, sigmoidoscopic and, the endoscopic machines and CT Scanners), has contributed tremendously in transforming the country’s health sector to international standards.  According to medical experts, these bio-medical equipment are the latest scientific digital diagnosing machines.

And according to Dr Lamin S Sima, in some countries within the sub-region, dialysis patients (those with renal or kidney problems) are obliged to pay 450 dollars, weekly, until the end of their life. "Here in The Gambia, it is free,” Dr Sima pointed out. He said that they do receive patients from abroad for the services of these machines, which, he emphasized, have helped a lot in improving the quality of the health delivery system in the country.  

According to the director of health services, Dr Tamsir Mbowe, who is also the director of the Presidential Treatment Program, a countless number of patients used to get referred abroad. But with the coming of these equipment, many of these patients are being treated in The Gambia now. He said that health indicators in The Gambia suggest a terrific improvement, with life expectancy increasing from 43 to 54 years.

According to expert reports, The Gambia is reasonably on course to attain the health related goals of the MDGs.  The World Health Organisation is on record as having certified The Gambia as having reached a polio-free status. Also, the WHO’s global alliance for the elimination of leprosy has also certified the country for having attained the elimination status for leprosy, due to the country’s low prevalence rate of one case of leprosy for 10,000 inhabitants.

The breakthrough

Perhaps the discovery of some invaluable medical herbs, dubbed ‘The Breakthrough’, by President Yahya Jammeh, on January 17, 2007, was the most significant discovery in a very long time. The discovery of herbs with the potency to cure HIV/AIDS, asthma, diabetes, hypertension and infertility, has further projected the positive image of The Gambia on the world map.  This is the greatest achievement the health sector has ever enjoyed in the history of Gambian medicine.  HIV/AIDS, which had been termed an uncurable disease, and considered by many as a death penalty, has obviously been demystified; and today many feel comfortable enough to come forward to declare their status so that they can get cured.

Laboratory investigations conducted both in The Gambia and abroad have vindicated the president’s assertion that he can cure HIV/AIDS.  Presently, the 5th batch of patients is receiving treatment.

Thousands of patients have already benefited from the presidential treatment programs, which have undoubtedly, significantly reduced the disease burden in The Gambia; with bed occupancy in health facilities dropping and the cost of procuring drugs to manage diseases like asthma, infertility, HIV/AIDS, hypertension, diabetes and a lot more, equally reducing. Health continues to occupy a prominent place in the priority list of President Jammeh’s government.