A conglomeration of health practitioners from the Ministry of Health including a representative from Partner In Health has returned from Sierra Leone, following their intervention into the catastrophic injuries of several persons, who were involved into explosion of gas tanker.

Earlier, on Friday, November 12, 2021, a team of Health Practitioners from the Ministry departed the country to buttress doctors and nurses of Sierra Leone’s efforts amid an explosion of gas tanker, where nearly 115 people lost their lives and several persons injured.

The explosion is believed to have happened at a junction outside the busy Choithram Supermarket in the densely populated Wellington suburb in the east of the city, last month.

Sierra Leone National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) said the vehicles collided when the tanker was entering a nearby filling station to discharge its fuel.

However, given the situation, the Government of Liberia through the Ministry of Health (MOH) dispatched a team of health practitioners who— upon arrival—provided basic healthcare interventions including mentorship for Community Health Workers (CHWs) on identification of infected wounds, discovering of  patients for prompt referral, and development policy and guidelines on burn management, Infection Prevention Control  (IPC), and Antimicrobia.

“We were joined by other colleagues from around the world, including Italy, Senegal, Germany, France, the United States; WHO, CDC, etc. to help the people and government of Sierra Leone,” Patience C. Tokpah explained to Health Hour, a health program presented by the Ministry’s Communication Unit on ELBC.

Several victims who were injured have recovered as a result of mechanisms instituted by the Liberian team: “Firstly, I am proud to represent my country. Most importantly, the team from Liberia did extremely well because of the levels of seriousness and our methods of mitigation used to treat those patients. We were able to provide mentorship with the different mechanism we took along. This approach helped patients to recover.

However, the Liberian professionals also helped to train their Sierra Leone counterparts in case and disaster management: “We couldn’t keep the ideas onto us, so we were able to train some health workers who are well prepared to take over from us”.

Prior to the departure of the Liberia’s team, a Mano River Union Regional health organization was established for the sole purpose of enhancing efforts in the fight against disaster in the region, and a regional IPC Protocols were developed.

Dr. Sterman Touissant, Surgeon and Clinical Director of Partners In Health; Amos B. Richards, PA; Kathy Gray, RN; Linda Parker, RN; Patience Tokpah, Deputy Director for Community Health Services, MOH; Veraus B. Topor, RN, and Josephine Kermon, RN; were those part of the rescued mission to Sierra Leone.