Partners in Health doctor on changing lives, developing skills, and flying with MAF.
Dr Maxo Luma reflects on the story of a Liberian tuberculosis patient who was so sick that his family had already brought home a coffin for his burial.
The Executive Director for Partners in Health Liberia and TB Programme Director said, the man’s family were shocked when they saw his treatment bring him back to good health.
Dr Luma, who flies regularly with MAF to PIH facilities in the southeast of Liberia, takes encouragement from these stories of hope.
“He suffered for so long with TB,” Dr Luma recalled. “His family tried in all their ways to give life, but they give up on him and the family bought him a coffin, placed indoors and awaiting his death.
“When JJ Dossen / PIH was contacted, he was taken to the hospital. His family left him, thought he has passed, they started preparing a site for burial and other preparations was done. But as God would have it, the work went well, and the guy regained life after the treatment.”
With life restored, the patient began thinking about the future, determined to build a business as a tailor.
“His business increased; he has many people that are working in his tailoring shop. And I am overjoyed to see him growing and making progress in his business and I also enjoyed the African suits that he always makes available,” Dr Luma added.
“If PIH /JJ Dossen was not contacted, he could have been buried in the coffin his family bought for him.”
PIH supports JJ Dossen, which is the only major hospital in Maryland County, in the southeast of Liberia. The organisation works closely with MAF to bring people and medical supplies from the capital Monrovia to the isolated community.
If PIH /JJ Dossen was not contacted, he could have been buried in the coffin his family bought for him
Dr Luma was clear that road or boat travel is not a reliable alternative. He said patients could die in the time it takes for medicines to arrive by road.
“We used boat from Monrovia to Harper (in Maryland),” he said. “While bringing some of our life-saving commodities an accident occurred, the boat crashed, and all of our goods were damaged. It was one of the saddest moments that we experienced.
“Our partnership with MAF, transporting lifesaving commodities, makes a big difference, we can receive our goods right in time.
‘’Travelling with MAF is not a random choice, MAF is everywhere, I have been flying with MAF in Haiti. It is not a surprise partnering with MAF in Liberia. We are with MAF forever.”
At JJ Dossen Hospital, Partners in Health have worked with international universities to develop local skills and help raise the standards of care for the remote community.
‘’I strongly believe to build a system you must build the people living in the country to take care of their brothers and sisters,’’ Dr Luma said.