Sierra Leone

ASSET work on the surgical care platform in Sierra Leone will be based in the Western Area, comprising Freetown, the capital city, and adjacent rural areas. The total population is 1,493,252 (2015 census).

Surgical Care in and around Freetown is provided by Connaught Hospital (tertiary level public hospital), Wilberforce (34 Military, providing care to service personnel and their families, and to the general public), Emergency (an NGO hospital providing care for selected emergency cases), and Princess Christina Maternity Hospital (Emergency Obstetric and Neonatal Care)

For further information regarding resourcing levels, please see surgical care platform (link).

In Sierra Leone healthcare is, in principle free at the point of care for pregnant women and children under the age of 5 years. For all others there are out-of-pocket costs for all aspects of healthcare. In addition to the prescribed charges ‘volunteer’ (non-salaried) staff may require payments for aspects of routine care. Services at the Military Hospital are free for service personnel and their families, but others pay out-of-pocket charges as in other parts of the public healthcare system.