Merlin, the UK-based international medical
relief charity is the first NGO to provide emergency medical services in
rebel-held Zwedru, Grand Gedeh County and Greenville, Sinoe County, in
Liberia. This move follows a rapid assessment of the south-eastern region
by Merlin, which found health facilities looted, medical staff displaced
and virtually no health services operating in many areas, due to rebel
activities.
Merlin has begun providing emergency
treatment at three clinics in Zwedru - the main centre for MODEL (Movement
for Democracy) operations in the south-eastern region - which, despite
a population of around 125,000, has no doctor. The nearest referral centre
for Grand Gedeh County is 140 km from Zwedru, in Guiglo, Ivory Coast.
In response to the emergency health needs of displaced populations in Sinoe County, Merlin is providing drugs and equipment to Greenville Hospital, re-starting primary healthcare services and installing senior medical staff to help oversee operations. With increasing cases of measles in both Grand Gedeh and Sinoe Counties, Merlin will also conduct a mass measles campaign, with support from UNICEF.
Dr Clement Peter, Merlin's Medical Coordinator in Liberia, who oversaw the assessments, said:
"With large swathes of the population in these counties unable to access any form of healthcare, it is urgent that we respond quickly to try and re-establish primary health services and get drugs and equipment to areas where they are most needed. Health services here have essentially broken down, and there is often no access to clean water, as the majority of hand pumps and wells are not functioning or not chlorinated."
Merlin, the first NGO to resume health services in Buchanan in late August, has been chlorinating 2,700 wells a week in the town, in addition to opening a cholera treatment unit at the government-owned hospital, thereby drastically reducing morbidity. Merlin is also planning to assess Nimba County, where there is still an active front line, with the aim of providing emergency health services in the region.