Alagi Yorro Jallow: Our Doctors, Nurses, and Healthcare Professionals Are Today’s Real Superheroes

Mamudu: Here is one small but significant thing to do that makes the situation regarding the coronavirus outbreak in the Gambia a little better. Whenever I speak with anyone in any of the healthcare professions–doctor, nurse, pharmacist, any of their assistants, I make a point of saying how much I admire them and their colleagues, and that I understand that the general crisis, so tricky for us all, must be especially tough for them. They always say they appreciate the thought and sound as though they mean it. These people must be more stressed now than you or I can easily imagine, and I think that kind words lighten their burden just a bit–and that, in turn, helps us all.
Mamudu: Our doctors, nurses, and healthcare professionals are today’s real superheroes! All of them in the Gambia. I extend my heartfelt thanks for their service, their dedication, and their courage in combating this coronavirus pandemic!
Mamudu: We seem to be the only nation not following the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Health department guidelines during an uncontained pandemic. Leaks from unconfirmed reports as well as information spread through the grapevine that there is not sufficient professional protective equipment available for health workers amid this deadly virus are unconscionable. Leaks further circulate that the majority of the isolation wards at the quarantine center for COVID 19 patents have no sufficient respiratory machines. However, I am told these machines are badly needed by the patients to help in breathing. Is it too much to ask this Government to provide the masks, gloves, and gowns needed for our nurses, doctors, healthcare workers, and medical professionals?
Mamudu: If we want to thank our healthcare workers, we need to take decisive action before our healthcare system gets overwhelmed. Empty gestures of gratitude right now ring hollow. Let us beat COVID-19 first!
Mamudu: If our politicians and political leaders at various levels over the years, do not learn serious lessons from this coronavirus issue as it affects our healthcare facilities, then, they can never learn. Since the coup broadcasts of July 1994 when AFPRC told us that our hospitals and health clinics were mere consulting clinics, till now, the situation has not improved. The reason the political elite, at the slightest cough, rush to Dubai, London, Germany, Senegal, South Africa, Thailand, US, and India for better medical attention, leaving the hapless Gambians to their fate. Now, coronavirus is a leveler. Nobody can fly out for medical attention. The whole world is on lockdown—an excellent lesson for all of us.