Delivering the keynote address and history of the initiative for setting up the Shifaa & Dialysis Center was daughter Dalanda Bah who is the Manager and Director of Administration at the center. She cited the unfortunate history of her father Alhaji Bah who suffered from kidney problems for many years and had to stay away from his family and friends and his business in Freetown simply because he had to be away on long spells in Guinea and elsewhere he could secure dialysis treatment.
Dalanda Bah went on to state that as a result, she and her father thought it fit to set up their own dialysis center in Freetown not for profit but to serve humanity, adding that as far back as 2016 together with her father and the likes of Dr. Arthur Williams, President of Sierra Leone Medical and Dental Council (SLMDC), Dr. Sama Banya who did most of the paper work and walked the work; Dr. Komrabai-Kanu, Dr. Ramadan Jalloh and a host of others from Guinea and Sierra Leone, the reality has been established in the form of the Shifaa & Dialysis Center which is a non-profit making center catering for kidney patients. She added that the center since 2016 has treated 56 patients; 55% being male; 46% being female and 29% (about 15patients coming from abroad).
Other prominent speakers at the event were Dr. Ramadan Jalloh, Dr. Arthur Williams who together with Alhaji Bah officially commissioned the Shifaa & Dialysis Center, and Dr. Mustapha Komrabai-Kanu who gave a brief history about what dialysis is and how it is treated; followed by Emma During an elderly woman who is the longest patient at the center gave the vote of thanks after a touching explanation about how she came to be delivered by the center some ten months ago.
Also present at the opening were journalists, medical and police personnel and members of the general public.
It was gathered that ‘Shifa‘ is a Muslim word meaning curing, healing, hence the name Shifaa & Dialysis Center.
