BUCHANAN, April 20 (LINA) – After months of engagement with Arcelor Mittal Liberia (AML), the leadership of Grand Bassa County has taken delivery of an annex at the company’s hospital facility to operate the first Regional Eye Clinic in the county.
The occasion held at the AML Buchanan Hospital assembled Grand Bassa County full leadership, the Ministry of Health, Greater Lions Club, and the CEO of Arcelor Mittal Liberia along with his team.
Turning over the facility to the Ministry of Health for onward presentation to the local authorities; AML CEO, Scott Lowe, said the success of the project was a result of the Bassa leadership’s patience and consistency, a process, he said, that has strengthened the corporate relationship between the company and the county.
Lowe, who has been on the job for about a month, said the prioritization of health interprets AML’s interest in assisting the Liberian government ensure the safety of its citizens and creating an improved life-environment under the Social Corporate Responsibility as a company; an initiative he vowed to maintain.
The MOU that gives rise to the facility was presented to the Ministry of Health represented by Dr. Joseph Kerkulah, Program Manager of Eye Care at Ministry and former County Health Officer of Grand Bassa County.
The over 10-room annex will host offices, laboratories and consulting rooms in what is declared a public facility.
The Eye Clinic is part of the Greater Lions Club Liberia strategies to aid the country in achieving its health goal through the Ministry of Health service delivery across the nation.
Dr. Kerkulah, receiving the MOU on behalf of the Minister of Health, said the support of Arcelor Mittal Liberia is recorded prior to and during the historic Ebola epidemic in 2014/2015, when it constructed the first “Withholding Unit” in Grand Bassa County.
Dr. Kerkulah described the decision to present an Annex by the AML as “a great step forward” in the right direction, stating that the service will also impact Rivercess, Sinoe and Margibi counties as a hub, a package for which he also lauded the Greater Lions Club.
For the part, Superintendant Janjay Baikpeh and the Chair of the Bassa Legislative Caucus, Rep. Thomas Alexander Goshua jointly expressed gratitude to the company and Lions Club; recalling that the path toward achieving such goal was rough, but intended to ensure the legal ramifications regarding the Eye Clinic were settled.
They mentioned that the investment of US$400,000 in the County Health System needed a thorough understanding as to how citizens will be impacted and the lasting nature of the project.
“We highly appreciate the Arcelor Mittal family for looking in the direction of their Social Corporate Responsibility and this is something we will remember as a historical day for the people of Bassa,” the two officials noted.
Supt. Baikpeh particularly attributed the gains made to the several pleas and humble working relationship between Grand Bassa County authorities and Arcelor Mittal Liberia along with the Greater Lions Club; adding officially the citizens of Bassa will bestow a traditional name upon the new AML CEO, Scott Lowe, soon.
The Clinic has the capacity to handle the different eye problems as is being done at the John F. Kennedy Hospital in Monrovia, operating under the mantra that ‘everyone has the right to sight’, a task the Lions Club committed itself to undertaking in the interest of Liberians.
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