Two health centers in Nimba County have benefited from huge consignments of medical supplies donated by ArcelorMittal Liberia in partnership with ProjectCure.
The supplies, comprising surgical materials, syringes, personal protective equipment for health workers, wheelchairs, oxygen masks and tubes, blood-drawing supplies, lab supply kits, digital thermometer, transformers, beddings, and stethoscopes amongst several others, were donated on October 11, 2024, to G.W. Harley Hospital in Sanniquellie and the Free Pentecostal Clinic in Camp-4, Yekepa.
G.W. Harley Hospital is a major referral hospital in Sanniquellie, the provincial capital of Nimba, while the Free Pentecostal Clinic in Camp-4 near Yekepa is an important health facility catering to the health needs of hundreds of people in the fence-lined communities of AML operation.
The donations followed a needs-assessment by AML’s Medical Department and representatives from ProjectCure. In August this year, AML made a similar donation of medical supplies to the Government Hospital in Buchanan and the Barsegiah Clinic.
In remarks during the donations, Marcus Wleh, Head of Sustainability and External Relations, ArcelorMittal Liberia, informed the recipients that AML is for the communities and is concerned about the welfare of the public, and not just its employees. He said ArcelorMittal worked with ProjectCure, a non-governmental organization, to procure the materials, which cost over US$125,000. He disclosed that Lugbehyee Clinic, another health facility in AML’s fenceline communities, will receive its share of the supplies in the coming days.
Wleh recalled that this gesture was not the first for the company to do, highlighting the role ArcelorMittal played by being the first during the Ebola epidemic to erect a treatment unit in Nimba. Also, the Sustainability and External Relations Department Head pointed out the intervention AML made in 2022 to renovate the G.W. Harley Hospital’s roof that was leaking on patients during the wet season.
Wleh also informed Nimba County’s Superintendent, Kou Miapeh Gono, and county health officials that through AML’s support the G.W. Harley Hospital relocation is progressing, and a few months from now the project will be completed. A similar project is also on-going in Grand Bassa County, where AML is supporting the rebuilding of the Government Hospital there.
AML Chief Executive Officer, Michiel Van Der Merwe, expressed appreciation to the county authority and the health officials for their warm welcome, and said the donation was not the first but many that had come, and still to come, and that AML was glad having such a mutual relationship with the county stakeholders.
In a word of commendation, the Medical Director of the G.W. Harley Hospital, Mealay Gboe, noted, “It is ArcelorMittal’s effort that brought ProjectCure that we are receiving this medical donation today. What we can assure the public is that those materials that have been brought will be used for the benefit of the population.”
On behalf of the Minister of Health, we say thank you for this donation. We will ensure that these items are used for the intendent purposes,” said Dr. Ponnie Robert Lee Dolo, County Health Officer of Nimba.
Nimba County Superintendent, Kou Miapeh Gono, hailed AML for its continued support in various ways in the county, noting that, despite its own constraint, ArcelorMittal has been in mutual collaboration with the county’s leadership, responding to some pressing needs of the people of Nimba and Liberia at large.
“We know wherever food is from there is hunger. We know that AML has its own constraints, but it has donated these materials in good faith. On behalf of His Excellency President Joseph Nyumah Boakai, we want to say thanks to Mittal for the donation,” said Superintendent Gono.
Reverend Horatio Mulbah, Mission Director of the Free Pentecostal Ministry, also commended AML and acknowledged that the company has been a key player in the upkeep of the clinic through timely interventions.
“You have strengthened us again. I want to say a big thank-you again. ArcelorMittal, you have done well. We want you to extend our appreciation to the CEO for this donation. If I continue to emphasize, tears will roll from my eyes. What you have done has strengthened us, and we assure you that these materials provided will be used for the intended purpose,” said Rev. Mulbah.
