Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Thursday 3 February, 2022 – Minister of Health and Sanitation, Dr Austin Demby has met with the leadership of the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, where he presented a comprehensive vision for Sierra Leone’s healthcare sector.
Speaking in the UAE capital, Dr Demby, who is leading a team from the Ministry of Health in Sierra Leone, said that their visit was to exchange ideas on best practices for success in the health sector and to explore the opportunities that exist for partnership and collaboration to deliver on key initiatives and address some of the challenging issues affecting healthcare delivery in Sierra Leone.
He noted the vision of Sierra Leone was to reposition the country as one capable of using modern and innovative technologies to cater for the health and wellbeing of its people. He also spoke of plans to improve and digitalize his country’s national ambulance service to be more effective in order to improve on its services, adding that developing an effective and robust health insurance scheme was another area of investment.
“We have invested a lot in primary healthcare services and this has increased accessibility to healthcare facilities across the country. What we are looking at now is ensuring that those facilities have the requisite equipment and personnel to make services even better for our people. We also have an ambition to invest in a secondary and tertiary healthcare system that is able to provide specialized services,” he said.
Director General of the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, H.E Mohammed Saif Al Suwaidi, commended President Bio and his government for putting Human Capital at the center of its development needs, noting the vision and strategies were well in place to benefit the people of Sierra Leone. He said that health in particular was an important component for building a nation and assured that tapping on the bonds of relationship between the two countries, they would be ready to support Sierra Leone in its transformation process.
Earlier on, Minister Demby also met with the Undersecretary at the UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention, H.E Dr. Mohammed Al Olama where they both discussed the ongoing COVID-19 response, digital transformation in healthcare delivery and possible areas of collaboration between the two countries. He lauded the UAE leadership for its continuous support to Sierra Leone. Dr Demby also commended Sierra Leone’s Ambassador to the UAE, Rashid Sesay for providing quality representation and fostering the ties between the two nations.
For More Enquiries:
Mohamed Lamin Massaquoi
Information Attaché, United Arab Emirates
+971 50 208 9695
email: massaquoi@slembassyuae.com
