Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at reopens clinic in URR

The Ahmaddiya Muslim Jama’at in The Gambia last Saturday reopened its medical clinic in Basse.  

The event was part of activities marking the Silver Jubilee of Nasir Ahamaddiyya Muslim Senior Secondary School in Basse, held from the 13th to the 14th March, 2009. In his inaugural address,  Yankuba Touray, the secretary of state for Fisheries and Water Resources, expressed President Jammeh’s regret at not personally attending the anniversary celebration due to unavoidable circumstances. He described the day as important in the hisotry of the Ahamaddiyya Muslim Jama’at in The Gambia citing Basse as a tolerant society with cultural diversity. He pointed out that The Gambia’s commitment to religious pluralism is enshrined in the 1997 Constitution.

“It is for these reasons that The Gambia enjoys unshakable peace and stability through which the Ahmaddiyya Muslim Jama’at has been able to operate and support The Gambia’s development aspirations in the areas of health and education,” he said. According to him, the government’s health policy aims at providing health care that is accessible and affordable to all its citizens as contained in the Vision 2020 blueprint, which can only be achieved with the joint efforts of the private sectors, NGOs and civil society organisations like the Ahmaddiyya Muslim Jama’at.  

He said the government has consistently increased its budgetary allocation to the health sector since the advent of the July 22 Revolution and this has resulted in the increase of life expectancy rate from less than 50 years in 1994 to nearly 60 years in 2008, according to the WHO. He added that maternal mortality rate has drastically gone postive, making The Gambia one of the best in sub-saharan Africa.

Alhaji Omar Khan, the governor of the Upper River Region, said the clinic will no doubt complement the government’s efforts in the delivery of efficient health care services to the people of Basse and its environs. He saluted the Ahmaddiya Muslim Jama’at for the good work and assured them that the clinic will be properly utilised. Mubarak Ahmad Tahir, the international director of Ahmaddiyya schools and hospitals said the Ahmaddiyya Muslim Jama’at is an Islamic organisation established to serve humanity through the provision of health services and education.  He revealed that the Jama’at has built 58 schools in six countries, forty hospitals and six hundred primary schools in East, West and South Africa.

Baba F Trawally, the Amir of the Ahmaddiyya Jama’at, said the clinic in Basse was built in 1979 and opened in 1980.  He said that the Ahmaddiyya Muslim Jama’at’s direct participation in the provision of medical services in The Gambia started in 1968, when a clinic was opened in Kaur in CRR. According to him, the reopening of this clinic is aimed at providing quality medical services to the community of Basse and the surroundings.  The centre is equipped with all the basic medical apparatus.