Bong County’s Baila Town residents in District 1 have begun the construction of a health facility estimated at over US$25,000.
Baila is a large town situated on the Suakoko highway along the border with Nimba County.
Town chief John Flomo told the local media that the community dwellers are molding concrete blocks and sawing wood to respond to the urgent health needs of a town that has a population of over 2,000 inhabitants.
He explained how a mother of two, identified as Sehnamu Nukana, died recently at the Palala Health Center from severe bleeding during child birth as a result of lack of a medical facility in the town.
“Pregnant women have been dying here because no clinic is in the town. Just Sunday, one person from here died in Palala after bearing twins,” he added.
“Baila is the headquarters of 10 other towns in District 1; yet according to the inhabitants, there is no health facility to cater to the health needs of inhabitants,” he further lamented.
Several heads of the town, including a women representative, Yenpu Sameleh, Chief Elder Gibson Paye and Youth president Papa Sepohucia, have cited the lack of safe drinking water as another huge challenge facing the town.
“This is what can bring malaria and fever to children because no safe drinking water. We have four hand pumps, but only one is good,” they revealed.
The leaders also disclosed that in April this year, a violent storm de-roofed 40 houses in the district, leaving the victims, including women and children, homeless.
Meanwhile, the citizens are appealing to Government through the National Disaster Relief Management Agency to assist them with building materials, including zinc, nails and cement, to help renovate their damaged houses and complete the ongoing clinic project.
The citizens have launched a rally through individual taxation to ensure the success of the clinic project.
In 1964, an elder told the local media that a fire outbreak burnt the entire town to ashes.
Baila also has a junior high school but not a single government assigned teacher and the residents themselves take the initiative to pay volunteer teachers.
