Aspen Medical has opened a private healthcare clinic in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone. The facility is the company’s second such clinic in West Africa following the opening of a clinic in Monrovia, Liberia, in early 2014.
The clinic offers comprehensive primary care services, emergency care, laboratory facilities, and is fully integrated with Aspen Medical’s aero-medical evacuation (AME) network in West Africa.
The clinic's first patient, a local businessman who owns a printing company, was so impressed with the reatment and serviec that he is donating a batch of free printing to the clinic.
“This is an exciting development for us and for Sierra Leone,” said Glenn Keys AO, Executive Chairman and Founder of Aspen Medical. “The country is in recovery mode after the devastation of the Ebola outbreak, and a private healthcare clinic with the highest standards of service and care is a key requirement to bring overseas companies back to the region,” he added.
In addition to the clinic in Sierra Leone, the company has also just launched aero-medical evacuation (AME) and general aviation services in West Africa.
The turboprop Beechcraft Corporation 1900C (B1900) is based in the Monrovia, and will provide services to West Africa, including Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana. Like the clinics, the general aviation services and aero-medical evacuation capability are critical factors in assisting the region to return to normal, and attracting investment and companies back to the region following the unprecedented outbreak.
Aspen Medical was one of the only organisations in the world to be contracted by three separate countries to deliver their Ebola response. The company managed the Australian Government’s Ebola Treatment Centre in Sierra Leone from mid-December 2014 until the end of April 2015. The company also managed four Ebola Treatment Units in Liberia on behalf of the US Government in Liberia. The company recently won an Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM) award for its Ebola Response work in West Africa.
Aspen Medical continues to play a crucial role in Sierra Leone where it manages the Kerry Town Treatment Unit on behalf of the UK Government as well as providing support to the laboratory run by Public Health England.
To date 11,312 people have died as a result of the Ebola outbreak which began in Guinea in December 2013. The World Health Organization has reported no new cases over the past two weeks. However, 150 registered contacts remain under follow-up in Guinea, of which 118 are high risk, and an additional 259 contacts remain untraced. There remains a near-term risk of further cases among both registered and untraced contacts.
Image: Our Sierra Leone clinic team with our first patient (centre).