Analysis
As President Bio commissions a new burns unit and high-end CT Scan Machine at Connaught Hospital, Sierra Leone transitions from the memories of a fuel tanker explosion in November 2021 that taught the most painful lesson of lack of predparedness, to making available one of the most critical foundations of modern medicine: diagnostic capacity.
Freetown. Thursday 2nd April, 2026.
Sierra Leone is witnessing an unprecedented healthcare growth as the Government, through the Ministry of Health, is radically transforming the speed, accuracy, and confidence in the way service delivery is viewed and provided. The President, Dr. Julius Maada Bio, today commissioned one of the most sophisticated high-quality machines in modern medicine-CT Scan-and a new burns unit.
These are in addition to the already quiet investments happening with rapid infrastructure improvements, capacity building, equipment upgrades, supply of drugs and medical commodities. The procurement and installation of the new CT Scans, funded exclusively by the Government, demonstrate a strong national desire to improving quality medical diagnostic capabilities. With 128 slides imaging capacity, this state-of-the-art machine is among the most advanced found in any country around the globe. The President could barely hold his excitement as Sierra Leone’s public health institutions can now proudly boast of owning and operating this type of digitally advanced modern healthcare tool.
“We are creating the conditions required to reduce the cost of healthcare expenditure by investing in equipment that prevent overseas medical travel for simple diagnosis. This is a strategic shift from dependency to self-reliance,” the President said.
One of the two CT Scans is already installed at the Radiology Unit at Connaught and the other will be installed at the Kenema Government Hospital. In addition, the government has also procured and distributed 10 standing ultrasound machines to hospitals across the country, with trained teams already in place to operate them. It has also distributed 32 handheld ultrasound machines to peripheral health units (PHUs), with plans well underway to procure more for all public facilities.
“This is how resilience is built. When infrastructure and expertise advance together, quality outcome is guaranteed” said Dr. Austin Demby, Sierra Leone’s Minister of Health as he spoke to a highly excited and hopeful crowd.
To ensure sustainabile and efficient functionality, operations of the CT Scans will be delivered through a public-private partnership with AMI Expeditionary Healthcare. This approach strengthens public investment through private-sector efficiency while maintaining accountability. Services will be delivered at high standards, with revenue supporting the Government, the operating partner, and reinvestment into the health sector. Most importantly, vulnerable populations will continue to access these services at zero cost. The Minister thanked the President for leading the rapid improvement taking place in the health sector and for believing in and support the leadership and team at the Ministry of Health. When the fuel tanker explosion happened in Freetown back in November 2021, the country did not have the diagnostic capacity required to support complex clinical decision-making at scale.
“Those gaps were real, and they shaped the decisions we are seeing today,” says Dr. Mustapha Kabba, the Deputy Chief Medical Officer-Clinical as he spoke abou the lunch of the newly contructed and well equipped burns unit. Constructed by the Government with support from Leone Oil, Interburns, and Resurge Africa. Through the leadership of the Minister of Health, and in partnership with Interburns and Resurge Africa, more than 60 health workers have now been trained in specialised burns care. This new facility represents a structural shift in how Sierra Leone is reinmagining healthcare.
