By Ralph Sesay
Health and Sanitation Minister, Professor Alpha Tejan Wurie, has disclosed to journalists at the usual Ministry of Information and Communications press briefing on Thursday that his ministry is set to roll out the Free Health Care Scheme in Schools very soon.
He noted that government recognizes the school as a vital institution for an expanded health program.
School health, according to the Minster, is being strengthened and expanded by his ministry to integrate family planning, compressive sexuality education, sexual and reproductive services.
Minister Wurie stated that the ministry would use the preventive, promotional and curative approaches in extending the free health care to the schools before the end of the year.
Professor Wurie gave a background to the Free Health Care scheme which, according to him, was introduced in 2010 for pregnant, lactating mothers and under-five children with funding from the United Kingdom Government.
He disclosed that the New Direction Government has restructured the free health care scheme and that government in 2019 funded 10% of the overall cost of the scheme, and that the cost by government is set to improve to 30% in 2020.
The Health and Sanitation Minister also indicated that the ministry is also set to include more categories of Sierra Leoneans into the Free Health Care Scheme.
The disadvantaged groups, ebola survivors and eventually the School system would be added, and that this will take the percentage of people benefiting from free health care in the country to 50% from the initial 20% when the scheme was only taking care of pregnant and lactating mothers and Under Fives.
The Health and Sanitation Minister also recounted several strides taken so far by the Ministry of Health and Government to create sustained health systems that can withstand the outbreak of diseases in the country.
Professor Wurie informed newsmen that an external evaluation by the World Health Organization’s Country Office has affirmed considerable progress in the development of policies and structure to increasingly respond to health emergencies.
‘’The disease surveillance and laboratory platforms are now capable of detecting epidemic prone diseases in real time,’’ Minister Wurie boasted.
He cited the detection of the Bombali and Marburg viruses in recent times as a reflection of the improvement in the country’s science base.
The health sector, according to the Health and Sanitation Minister, could now be reasonably considered as robust with its preparedness for disease detection and outbreak responses.