The Minister of Health and Sanitation, Dr Soccoh Kabia has officially opened the newly built UNICEF funded ultra modern maternity unit at the government hospital in kabala.
Addressing the opening and handing over ceremony, the Health and Sanitation Minister underscored the importance of the facility, adding that it would go a long way in complementing the efforts of government and the district health management team towards the reduction of high incidence of maternal mortality in the country.
Dr Kabia noted that Kabala is one of the worst districts in relations to high maternal mortality rates hoping that the community would fully utilize the facility for its intended purpose.
Most maternal deaths, Dr Kabia said are preventable and reiterated the need for the use of the hospital describing the loss of a pregnant woman as a big loss to the family, the community and the country as a whole.
He lauded the district health management team and the Kabala community for the setting-up of birth-waiting rooms at chiefdom and village levels, and the ban on home delivery as a strategy for the prevention of maternal and new born mortality in the district.
Dr Kabia on behalf of government expressed gratitude to UNICEF for its continued support and reiterated President Koroma’s commitment to improve the health care delivery system in the country.
He highlighted most of the problems and challenges facing the health care delivery system in the country and promised to address the issue of poor conditions of service, medical supply and equipment, and the brain drain in the medical and nursing profession for positive action.
The UNICEF representative, Geert Cappelaere, said funds for the construction were provided by the German National Committee for UNICEF.  The facility, he said, includes antenatal and post natal care, post operative, eclamptic wards, an operating theatre, a laboratory and a pharmacy. Other facilities include a water supply system with a 27 KVA generator.