The relocation of the services of the Aristide Le Dantec Hospital is underway and requires a lot of patience. Dalaal Jamm will host most of the services such as cardiology, dermatology, while the new hospital in Touba will receive part of the oncology department and urology will be installed at the Ngor Health Center…

It is a part of the hospital’s history that is closing … waiting for the opening of a new page in two years. At Aristide Le Dantec Hospital, the workers and technicians are in the process of dismantling the operating theatres, the X-ray machines, the scanners, the technical platforms, to redeploy them to the various temporary accommodation structures of the dismantled services due to repairs at this national centenarian hospital centre. It takes work and balancing to avoid breaking follow-up routines of the sick, scattered in a dozen structures between the regions of Dakar and Touba.  Dalal Jamm will host a large part of Dantec’s services: these departments include cardiology, dermatology, ophthalmology, general surgery, onco-paediatrics, some of the laboratories… Located in the suburbs, Dalal Jamm Hospital is thus increasing its capacity. Even if several services will be ventilated in other health facilities, between Pikine and Guédiawaye.  It is a huge gamble, yet obliged by the situation. Since August 2, the authorities have been holding a series of meetings, devising strategies to find the best options to prevent the closure of Le Dantec from weighing on patients who are already sufficiently anxious. « Progressively, in the weeks or months that follow, it could be that other structures will be sheltered at the hospital level.  In fact, many of the outpatients are from the suburbs. If today this structure expands, it can only be beneficial for the populations.  Moreover, it was a wish of the notables, delegates of neighbourhoods and imams of the area, » explained Moussa Sam Daff, director of Dalal Jamm. In addition, urology will be hosted at the Ngor Health Center, part of the cancer department will be transferred to the new hospital in Touba, while part of the maternity ward will be relocated to the Diamniadio Children’s Hospital. 

At Le Dantec, it’s a race against time less than 96 hours before the hospital closes. « The specialised medicine centres will initially be housed in the health centres, pending the rehabilitation of the infectious diseases department at the Fann hospital.  So we will relocate the equipment, the human resources to be able to resume the activities. We will dismantle the urology block and the children’s surgery department block, which will be relocated to the Abass Ndao Hospital but also to the Ngor Health Center.  At the hospital level, we have a heavy technical platform and a relatively light technical platform. The heavy ones are CT scans, radiotherapy, etc. The light technical platform is practically everything that is composed of operating blocks, some laboratory equipment. So we started with the most difficult, that is the operating room that we want to dismantle and reinstall to allow the services to resume their activities that they have temporarily suspended, » explains the director of Le Dantec Hospital, interviewed by Sneips. Babacar Thiandoum continued: « We have taken the decision to relocate all services in order to allow patients to continue their treatment, but also to allow future patients, if I can put it that way, to have a care site. We also plan to support regional hospitals with equipment and human resources. »

 

Oncology, urology…

What will patients do? « Patients will be redeployed to the wards they used to attend. So today I can say in Wolof that « Dantec dafay toxu », but the services will come back after the reconstruction of the hospital.  Patients will be referred, those who are being followed in the services are already informed. Each department will move with its patient files. So the patients will be contacted by the secretaries to come to their appointment to continue their care, their treatment. »  

The announcement of the closure of the Le Dantec Hospital for its reconstruction on August 14, had raised questions about the plan for the correct redeployment of services. The Ministry of Health and Social Action, accused of not having given information on this subject, finally issued a statement yesterday.  In the document, the department headed by Dr. Marie Khémesse Ngom Ndiaye informs us that a « scheme for the redeployment of services and staff has been defined in collaboration with the management and all stakeholders of the said hospital, as well as the health structures that must accommodate them ».  

In this context, the Ministry of Health and Social Action informs us that « the following hospitals and health centres have been identified to house the various services. These are:  Dalal Jamm, Fann, Idrissa Pouye, Roi Baudoin, Ouakam Military Hospital (Hmo), Diamniadio Children’s Hospital, Institute of Social Hygiene, Pikine Hospital, Abass Ndao, Ahmadoul Khadim of Touba, Ngor Health Center, The Marists, Yeumbeul, Colobane, Nabil Choucair, Baye Talla Diop, Sicap Mbao, Keur Massar, PMI of Medina and the Pilgrims’ Hangar. »  

At a press conference on Monday, unionists in the sector denounced the lack of a relocation plan for the reconstruction of the Aristide Le Dantec hospital. The latter, who are concerned about the fate of the sick, raised questions about the redeployment of staff.  According to them, there is no « correct, reliable and acceptable » relocation plan, which takes into account both the fate of the staff and that of the sick. Sick people were being evicted, according to unionists who had rejected the plan of the authorities to rebuild the hospital on 3 hectares of the land base of the Aristide Le Dantec University Hospital Center…  

If the maximum duration of the reconstruction project is estimated at 20 months, the cost is 60 billion CFA francs. This budget essentially takes into account the costs of reconstruction, the acquisition of equipment, monitoring and evaluation of the works.  Upon completion, the hospital should have a capacity of 600 beds and 24 operating buildings.

By Khady SONKO and Abdou Latif Mansaray / ksonko@lequotidien.sn, latifmansaray@lequotidien.sn