The deputy national youth president of National People’s Party has said  healthcare is a priority for the ruling party as he defended the services provided at public hospitals. 

“In our manifesto we prioritise health, we want to make sure that there is huge investment and improvement in our health care system,”said Lamin K Saidy.

He stated that the country’s two main public hospitals, Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital and Kanifing General Hospital, are providing vital services to the public at reasonable costs. 

“We might not have it 100% perfect because in our systems we know sometimes people often make a comparison between the Edward Francis Small Teaching hospital and other private health facilities,” he said.

“One thing we forgot to bear in mind is the cost attached to two of the services for example if you go to RVTH, Kanifing hospital and doctor attended to you and if you to go a private health facility and a doctor is to even see you, what are the costs attached to each of these visits,” he added.

According to him, sometimes people are admitted to RVTH for three to four months and beyond and they don’t pay anything to the facility but certain private facilities, for night admission you are to pay about D850 per night.

“In those facilities every other thing goes with cost, so whatever they dispense they can recover it back but [not so in] the government [run public hospitals],” he said.

Reporting by Adama Makasuba