Six Liberian medical practitioners have been awarded a one-year scholarship by Church Aide Incorporated with funding from the Starley Hearing Foundation based in the United States to attend the Starley Hearing Institute in Lusaka, Zambia. Four of the six medical practitioners expected to depart Liberia soon are Magdalene Konneh, from the John F Kennedy Hospital; Hannah Newah, Government Hospital, Tubmanburg, Bomi County; Moses Bimah and Dargai Porkpali, both from Curran Hospital, Lofa County.
The chairman of the board of directors of Church Aid Incorporated made an appeal to the national legislature during the visit of Don Martin and a delegation from Minnesota, United States, held in Brewerville, to include funding for Church Aid Incorporated in the proposed national budget in order to train people to establish a similar institution in Liberia.
The Starley Hearing Institute needs to hire more medical professionals to be assigned to hospitals around the nation, according to Bishop Kortu Brown, former president of the Liberia Council of Churches. He advised the recipients to make the most of the scholarships given to them in order to persuade the Starley Hearing Foundation in the US to spend additional money helping more Liberians get the same training.
Ron Martin, the delegation leader from the Starley Hearing Foundation, earlier expressed his hope that training the initial group of Liberians would pave the way for establishing a training center for hearing healthcare in Liberia. He estimated that the four scholarship recipients’ one-year training at the Starley Hearing Institute in Zambia cost 72,000 US dollars. Mr. Martin presented four computers to the four medical practitioners because the training starts as soon as they arrive in Zambia.
Magdalene Konneh thanked Bishop Brown and the Starley Hearing Foundation in the US on behalf of the scholarship beneficiaries. She reassured the two institutions they will make every effort to learn in order to benefit their Liberian colleagues when they return and treat the country’s hearing ailments.
The Administrative Officers, Jeffrey O’Donnell, Robin Brooksbank, and others were also in the delegation. Senator Semion Taylor of Grand Cape Mount County, Mother Mariama Brown of the Concern Christian Community, and Dr. Emmanuel Singbe of Curran Lutheran Hospital, among others, attended the event.
Reported by: Augustine Octavius
Contact: +231777463963
Email: augustineoctavius@gmail.com
