Monday 13th November Part 1
We woke this morning to no water. Given everything I had seen it did not feel appropriate to complain to the hotel. I did however regret my decision of the day before to put my only source of water – a large bottle – into the fridge. It woke me up I guess…
The intention today was to fly to Harper, on the South East corner of Liberia, where we are supporting an eye clinic. UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) have free helicopter flights to Harper which Non-Government Organizations can use. Unfortunately the weather was not in our favour, and we waited in vain the whole morning at the heliport. We were joined by Dr Amegashie, the ophthalmologist (and general surgeon) at the clinic and had something of an ad hoc meeting in the departure area.
It was a pretty depressing story. Dr Amegashie had only managed to do three cataract operations in October, and the biggest problem was staff. We had trained several nurses, most of whom had ‘skipped’ after training. One had simply not returned from Ghana. The cataract surgeon who was supposed to be there was also no longer working. We asked Dr Amegashie if he could suggest anyone else to train, and the answer was ‘no’.
It was clear that we need to be much tougher in enforcing the bond for people we train (we are entitled to recover all costs from the individuals if they don’t return immediately after training). We have never done this before, and now we must be prepared to see it right through to court action if necessary. Otherwise the problem of ‘skipping’ will persist.
About Me
- Caroline Harper
- I am the Chief Executive of Sightsavers International, an organisation which works with partners to combat blindness in developing countries, restoring sight through specialist treatment and eye care. We also support people who are irreversibly blind by providing education, counselling and training in some of the poorest countries in the world.
2 comments:
Hello Caroline Harper
Why do the nurse trainee's skip, for better paid jobs or was the training not to standard.
what questions are posed prior to training.
sincerely
patzimaher@gmail.com
Nurses are trained either in Ghana or The Gambia, as there are no training facilities in Liberia. The training is excellent - the problem is that nurses are often able to get good jobs in these countries, and they see how much safer they are and frankly don't want to come home. It is understandable really when you compare the conditions in Liberia with those in The Gambia and Ghana (there is a lot of poverty in both these countries, but in Liberia it is more extreme and the facilities are far worse).
We impress on people that they must return post training, and they sign agreements saying that they must come back or pay us back for their training. We must get tougher on enforcing these, however understandable the reasons are for people leaving.
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