Sierra Leone on Monday requested international medical aid for its overburdened hospitals in the wake of a fuel tanker blast in the capital Freetown that killed more than 100 people.
“We desperately need medical material for critical burns cases,” Dr. Moses Batima, deputy director general of the health ministry’s medical supplies agency, told AFP.
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He said items such as perfusion fluids, material to dress wounds, bandages and painkillers were notably in short supply with hospitals already having delved into reserves.
Batima said some World Health Organization supplies had begun coming in as well as donations but that it was not enough.
“We are appealing to the international community for aid for medical equipment for the most serious cases,” he added, saying hospitals were unable to cope with the workload with personnel working flat out since the blast.
According to latest data, at least 101 people were killed and a further 91 injured in Friday’s explosion when a fuel tanker collided with another truck at a petrol station.
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Witnesses say most of the victims were street sellers and motorcyclists who were engulfed in the flames as they tried to retrieve fuel leaking from the tanker before it ignited.
