President George Manneh Weah and his administration have made yet another first-time development record as he dedicates Liberia’s first ever medical oxygen plant, a pioneering achievement towards building a more robust, responsive and resilient health sector in the country.
In its 175 years existence, Liberia is celebrating the inauguration of the first-ever state-of-the-art Medical PSA Oxygen Plant with the capacity to produce 100 cylinders (~50Nm3/hour) of medical oxygen per day at 93+3% purity.
The oxygen plant, located at Star Base on the Bushrod Island, is the largest in the country, and is expected to serve an estimated population of two million inhabitants in Montserrado and Margibi counties.
Commissioning the plant Tuesday, October 25, 2022, President Weah extolled Liberia’s partners for collaborating with his government in supporting initiatives geared towards improving healthcare delivery to the people of Liberia.
Sounding upbeat by such a groundbreaking achievement, President Weah described the establishment of the oxygen plant as an excellent mark of good and realistic collaboration between the Government of Liberia (GOL) with the World Health Organization (WHO) and other strategic partners.
The governments of the United States, through USAID, along with the Federal Republic of Germany and Canada provided financial support for the establishment of the plant.
The President also expressed profound appreciation to the governments of the three countries for supporting Liberia in the fight against COVID-19 and strengthening our health system.
The United States government, through USAID, is also supporting the World Health Organization (WHO) to establish another oxygen plant in Bomi County which, upon completion, will serve health facilities in Bomi, Grand Cape Mount and Gbarpolu counties.
“We place immense value on this timely support to protect the country against future emerging and re-emerging public health threats,” the President said.
In addition to these two new oxygen plants, the Liberian Chief Executive announced that the Ministry of Health has prepared and presented a roll-out plan for the establishment of eleven (11) more oxygen plants throughout Liberia.
According to the President, this represents a commitment of his administration to bring more health services to our communities “as we attempt to increase access to universal health coverage and protect the population from public health threats under the ‘Pro-Poor Agenda for Prosperity and Development (PAPD)’”.
He said the investment in oxygen plants will not only help address resurgence in the COVID-19 pandemic, but will also and more importantly serve all hospitals with the treatment of other perennial diseases, such as pneumonia that persist long after the pandemic.
President Weah used the occasion to extol Liberia’s record as one of few countries globally that have successfully managed the COVID-19 pandemic despite the challenges presented to the health system.
He noted that “the stabilization of the COVID-19 situation and the declining trajectory of new infections in the country is a result of my government’s swift action in leading and managing the response, in collaboration with our international partners”.
Regarding how Liberia stands in terms of COVID-19 related fatalities, President Weah announced that there is no COVID-19 related fatalities across the country since the beginning of this year.
The Liberian Leader however reminded Liberians that the virus remains unpredictable, and that the Ministry of Health had recorded 317 cases in August, and 70 cases in September.
President Weah said, “I am told that the number of new infections is unlikely to exceed 70 during this month of October. COVID-19 has not disappeared globally and could mutate to more dangerous variants.”
He however assured Liberians that his administration remains committed to reforming and revitalizing the country public health systems, and that they will continue to take the essential steps to render them more robust and resilient.
He said the government’s journey towards building herd-immunity against the pandemic is also in full swing, underscoring that the country is winning the battle on this front, with the vaccination coverage reported as being above 76%.
He thanked Liberians for cooperating with the government and for adhering to health protocols. “We will continue to take all necessary steps to protect the lives of all Liberians,” the President said.
President Weah thanked the WHO, international partners, members of the SPACO and Star Base teams for what he called “the gift of life”, which is the last hope.