By Yankuba Jallow
Halifa Sallah, the presidential candidate for the PDOIS party, has promised Gambians that his party’s Transformative Agenda has answers to the country’s health problems.
Sallah who is on a nationwide caravan tour for face-to-face discussion with Gambians, said his party’s Transformative Agenda seeks to bring about change of system.
“System change is an alternative system which PDOIS seeks to bring to eradicate poverty, injustice and ignorance. Also, the Transformative Agenda of PDOIS seeks to address the economic and political issues among other problems of the country,’’ Sallah said; adding that a PDOIS-led Government will maintain a community based health system where residents in communities will be trained to handle first aid such as taking blood, temperature, measuring blood sugar and other primary health care services before referral to minor or major health centers within the district or to regional hospitals.
He said a PDOIS led Government will build minor health centres in small villages, major health centres in big villages and urban wards, district hospitals in districts or urban constituencies, and referral hospitals in each region or urban municipality.
He said the Health Ministry will formulate strategic plans, programs and projects to ensure that the four components of health which includes preventive, curative, rehabilitative and restorative aspects, are institutionalized at each level of the health delivery system, be it at the primary stage, at minor health centres in villages, or the secondary stage at major health centres and clinics in districts or referral hospitals in the regions that will serve as the tertiary stage of the health delivery system in those areas.
He said the foundation of people centered development is to ensure the building of a society where the citizen is not only a child of his or her parents, but a child of the neighbourhood, the community and the nation at large, who must be catered for from pre-natal stage of life to old age and death, and must be guaranteed all the social services required for a good standard of living and general wellbeing.
He said a PDOIS led Government will introduce counseling and social protection services to ensure that each mother is protected to have a healthy mind and body at the pre-natal stage.
He said a PDOIS led Government will train pre-natal attendants in every community to provide counseling and guidance to couples and mothers on pre-natal care and childbirth.
On the aspect of environmental protection, Sallah said the land, air and sea constitute the environment which must be adjusted to enhance the existence of the sovereign republic and the sovereign people. He said the atmosphere and climate are all vital to human survival and development; adding that the ecological component aims to harmonize nature by promoting the type of civil, social, economic and cultural development internally and externally, to protect land, sea and air from environmental degradation and facilitate sustainable development.
He reiterated that nature must be protected and utilized as a treasure bequeathed to us and must be harnessed by our generation in such a responsible manner so as to ensure the survival and sustainable development of generations yet unborn.
Sallah said the cooperative state and the sovereign people will combat
environmental threats caused by poor planning at the national, urban and regional levels which leads to floods and the demolition of buildings and the engendering of poverty and hardship.
