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Written by Rouzina C. Borteh
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Friday, 10 August 2012 05:43 |
The University of Liberia is Liberia`s oldest and highest academic institution. The UL has a current enrollment of approximately 23,000 students pursuing undergraduate and graduate studies in law, engineering, education, business management, etc. Students congregate on a daily basis for lectures and academic activities. Large as the enrollment is, there no clinic or health center to provide first aid or cater to the health needs of students. The absence of health facilities is a major risk to the activities of students on campus, as many a time in the past students have fallen ill and could not have personnel to perform simple first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation routine(CPR).
The unavailability of health attendants and health facilities has led to the deaths of students who could have otherwise been resuscitated if there were a clinic on the campus.
The nearest referral health center is the JFK Hospital which is about 1.5 miles away, and there are no ambulance services operated by the University. A student who falls off from such illness as heart attack will not have first aid attention until about 25 minutes later when he or she is rushed to the JFK. In most cases, due to the delay in getting a vehicle, coupled with traffic jam, the student will likely not be resuscitated.
During last semester, a student fell off and died few minutes later while he was being rushed to the hospital. If there was a clinic on campus, that student would have been given immediate first aid attention and then subsequently referred to a bigger hospital. Perhaps, then he would have been resuscitated.
Judging from the above, there is a compelling need to construct a clinic that will cater to the immediate health needs of students at the University. A delay in establishing a clinic to serve this purpose will see the spread of more airborne diseases and even bigger health complications resulting from minor illnesses that could be treated through urgent checkup and immediate treatment. |
