By Ndey Sowe
Musu Kuta Komma, country director ChildFund The Gambia has disclosed that they have disbursed over Five Million dalasi to the most vulnerable families as Covid-19 response.
She said: “3758 families have benefitted from our cash transfer programme channeled through community-based credit unions at the level of our three local partners and part of the LRR. We are committed to continue.”
She made the remarks on Monday, 5th October 2020 during the handing over ceremony of 40 foot container with medical supplies and pharmaceuticals to the Ministry of Health, held at the Central Medical Stores at Kotu.
This forms part of their ‘Gift-in-Kind’ program that comes hard on the heels of the donation of a 20-foot container to the same ministry in July courtesy of Map International, a humanitarian organization based in the US.
She highlighted that the medical supplies they ship into the Gambia are always given a seal of approval by the Ministry of Health in line with set guidelines and approved standard.
“Our relations with the Ministry of Health is a long standing one”, she affirms, adding there has been significant growth in their collective drive to make sure that the country’s health sector is well stocked for accessible and quality health care delivery.
She said the consignment is even more significant because it is an established fact that in this time of COVID-19, the health system of even the most advanced countries have been confronted with serious challenges both in terms of human and material resources.
Babanding Sabally, the Director of Pharmaceutical Services said the partnership between them have started three year ago and it is one of the best partnership he has witness during his tenure as a director.
He remarked: “ChildFund will invite us to decide what we need or what we want for people of the Gambia in terms of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies.”
While applauding ChildFund in ensuring that whatever they agreed for them to bring is brought, he also described the donation as solicited and assured the donors that the items will be accountable and send to where they are needed.
Karamba Keita, the Deputy Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Heath said this is another milestone between them and ChildFund, and said it has been demanded by the Ministry of Health from ChildFund.
While commenting ChildFund for having the Gambia at heart, he alluded that government cannot do it alone; as they are faced with lot of challenges in terms of medical supplies. He therefore thanked ChildFund for the timely intervention.
