Dave, sorry for the troubles your junior brother encountered.  Sadly, this
is a regular phenomenon in Gambia and those that support the government of
Yaya know that very well.  They may want to grandstand on the L, but not
even deep down, they know your narrative is the reality of our people.  Keep
up the good work.

Chi Jaama

Joe Sambou


>From: Dave Manneh <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: The Phantom Hospitals and soccer-crazed Doctors
>Date: Thu, 16 May 2002 10:45:54 +0100
>
>If a young life was not in danger of being cut cruelly short, this comedy
>of
>errors could be an Oscar winner, as it is the "real comedy of errors or
>rather of incompetence".
>
>This is the story of a 16.5yr boy from Brufut Manneh Kunda. Bekai Manneh
>was
>sent on an errand
>by his mum sometime yesterday (Wednesday 15th May) evening. He diligently
>picked up his bike and cycled to do the errand.
>Unfortunately on his way, a "semester" (for those not familiar with the
>lingo, A semester is a Gambian from the West holidaying back home), lost
>control of his car and in the process nearly ended young Bekai's life.
>Bekai was rushed to Serre Kunda clinic by a Gambian-Ghanaian Samaritan who
>happened to witness the accident. They got him into Serre Kunda
>Hospital/Health Centre at 17:00GMT.
>Some police (as someone reported the incident at the Serre Kunda police
>post) and relatives of Bekai from Brufut, Sukuta and Bakau who either
>happened to be in Serre Kunda, were on their respective ways home from
>work,
>or who Bekai's' mum had phoned crying that her young son has just been
>killed, all congregated. They were all asked to wait in the corridor,
>including Bekai who was by then bleeding from his head and mouth (as he had
>lost two of his front teeth).
>
>There they waited for nearly an hour, as there were not enough nurses let
>alone doctors to see to everyone. Bekai's brother made a fuss that as his
>little brother had head injuries he should be immediately seen to. This
>unfortunately didn't go down too well with the health centre "big bosses",
>who accused him of being rude and insolent. Another hour passed, still
>Bekai
>laid on a hard bench bleeding, and no doctor or nurse was in sight. By
>19:00
>a young nurse came in and saw his condition and was shocked that he had not
>been seen to. She immediately asked for him to be taken inside. She put him
>on a drip and sat him on a chair. She went to find a doctor, and returned a
>few minutes later to say that there was none. Apparently the doctor who was
>supposed to work the evening shift( a Cuban) had gone to watch football and
>as such was late in coming to work.
>
>Another hour passed and this soccer-loving Cuban finally arrived. My family
>thinking that he would see to Bekai immediately took it upon themselves to
>explain to him what the situation is and how long they have been waiting
>for
>him etc.
>The doctor asked for Bekai to be taken into the "theatre", but as it has
>always the case the whole evening, there was no specialist to operate the
>machinery. He then looked at Bekai's injured head, cleaned and dressed it.
>That stopped the bleeding. He then looked at his face and mouth and
>exclaimed how swollen it was, and that unfortunately there were no free
>beds
>in the hospital for Bekai to stay overnight. One of my uncles from Bakau
>then told the doctor how ridiculous and pathetic they all were, how
>hopeless
>the health centre was etc, and thus if he could kindly write a preliminary
>medical report, to enable Bekai to be transferred to Banjul hospital. The
>doctor made some phone calls, and later came back to tell him that the
>situation was not any better in Banjul either and as such he would not
>bother to give them a report. Much to his credit(if one can call it that)
>he
>then asked for them to wait a bit longer for him to check what arrangements
>could be made in having Bekai stay the night under medical supervision, but
>sadly nothing came out of that.
>The family, now with a mixture of fear and fury on their faces, asked the
>doctor if he could take another look that Bekai's wounds as the bandage was
>now soaked in blood and his face has ballooned up. Bekai was given some
>injections and some tablets to take. An hour passed and still the bed
>situation was unresolved, the doctor now asked them to take Bekai with them
>back home to Brufut and to return this morning. My jaws just dropped, when
>this part if the whole sad saga was been recounted over the phone this
>morning. For a person suffering from head injuries to be asked to go home
>and return the following morning only happens in Jammeh's Gambia.
>
>Now am very mad, actually fuming with rage. Am mad not only mad at the
>inept
>medical staff and the pittance of the medical services but also at my
>family
>for none of them having the sense to phone any of us in EU or US about the
>accident, for I personally would have asked them to take him to a private
>clinic.
>
>Now, am no doctor, but I  would have thought that a head injury would have
>been a priority, and that an accident victim especially one with wounds
>that
>serious would have been ill-advised to have him moved about, but this is
>the
>story of the medical services back home. The whole institution is
>incompetent, and lacking, lacking in every sense of the word.
>
>I did not decide to share this sad experience to score a point over the
>murderous, inept, regime (that is a fact to all, except the morally blind,
>the apologist and the "refuseniks"), but rather to put a stop to once and
>for all the constant blabbering of how many hospitals Jammeh has built and
>to see them in the only context that they should be seen is, as just "dogs
>bollocks".
>
>The whole experience has made me very sad, and made me do a lot of
>thinking.
>Bekai is my own little brother, who I last saw in early 1994, when he and
>his cousins came out of the "initiation", and was jokingly telling them
>that
>they would be returned back if they ever slip and didn't address me as
>"Koto". I recounted these events over and over again in my head and have to
>admit I was nearly sick imagining that I nearly lost my baby brother and
>that I would not have had been able to see and speak to him. He was a
>little
>boy the last time I saw him and he has since grown to be a giant of a man.
>He is bigger than I am, for I was told that he is 6'2" tall when am only a
>miserly 5'11".I am also so mad at the carelessness of the unlicensed driver
>as he did not only put other people's lives in danger but his very own too,
>but I know accidents do happen, as I am a testament to that myself.
>
>NB: If there are any people (Mr Gassama perhaps??), journalist(Mr Sillah??)
>or  any other concerned Gambian who would like to verify this story, pls
>let
>me know and I shall provide you with the phone numbers and names of the
>people back home for you to contact, and then perhaps share that info with
>the L. I was told though that these incident are so rampant in the Gambia
>that people have resigned to it.
>
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