By Moses M. Tokpah, mosesmtokpah@gmail.co
KAKATA, Liberia- The only government referral Hospital in Kakata City, Margibi County, C.H. Rennie Hospital has been destroyed by a horrific fire, but no one was hurt and patients have been safely evacuated to other health facilities in the County.
The fire broke out early Sunday morning, August 15, 2021 to the dismay of residents of Kakata.
Health workers, who were on shift when the fire broke out, managed to escape and patients were taken out of the facility and referred to the Bong Mines Hospital and the Barcolleh Health Center among others.
There is no casualty reported so far, but the fire destroyed the Hospital emergency room, pharmacy, record room, waiting room and administrative offices respectively.
Earlier, some materials such as hospital beds, desks and chairs were retrieved from the facility.
The facility since its establishment, has been catering to citizens from Margibi and its surrounding counties including Bong, Montserrado and Grand Bassa respectively.
Residents of Kakata especially youths (boys and girls) having heard about the fire incident trooped into the compound to fight the fire amid the lack of fire trucks.
The Kakata residents were seen fighting the fire with send and water using buckets, mini tubs and short gallons and their efforts prevented the fire from further spreading to other units.
Members of the joint security and some local government officials were also on the scene insuring that the fire is put under control.
Most of the citizens who spoke to this writer expressed sadness over the fire outbreak.
According to the citizens, early Sunday morning they received call from relatives and friends informing them that the facility was on fire and taking into consideration the services the facility renders them on a daily basis, they decided to get involve with fighting the fire.
The Kakata residents further noted that the burning down of the facility has brought a serious setback to the county amid the covid-19 pandemic and the economy hardship the country is faced with.
They called on the Liberian Government to secure fire trucks and assign them to the counties in order to promptly respond to future fire outbreak.
Meanwhile, Margibi County Health Officer Dr. Augustine Fannieh has attributed the cause of the fire to electrical fault.
Dr. Fannieh however, applauded citizens of the county for their timely intervention in helping to quench the fire and at the same time admonished residents to help in protecting materials that were retrieved from the Hospital during the fire outbreak.
Health Minister hold emergency meeting
In a related development, after the fire incident an emergency meeting was held with Liberia’s Health minister Dr. Williemena Jallah and Margibi County Legislative Caucus, regarding the situation.
Dr. Jallah promised that President Weah and the Liberian government takes the situation seriously and that urgent steps will be taken to rebuild the damaged C.H. Rennie Hospital.
Following the meeting, Margibi’s district #3 Representative Ellen Attoh Wreh, in whose district the facility is located, informed the media that the Margibi legislative Caucus reached an agreement that the hospital be closed for the period of one week.
This will enable an assessment team to determine the level of damage caused to the facility and the length of days it will take to have it rebuilt.