Jammeh accused of lying over HIV/AIDS treatment claims

By Pa Modou Cham

Dr. Mariatou Jallow, former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Royal Victoria Hospital (RVH), who testified before the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC), yesterday has revealed that former President Yahya Jammeh was lying to the Gambians about his claims of treating HIV/AIDS, hypertension, asthma and tuberculosis.

She, however, stated that the difficulties that the victims of April 10/11 2000 were a system fail from the government and the management of the RVTH as a whole. 

Giving account of the incident, she said she was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the hospital at the time and on that day she received a call as she was in her office that many people were brought to the hospital with serious injuries and bleeding.

“I mobilised the doctors and the nurses and the theatre was prepared as well and those needed blood were facilitated. The death people in total of 14 were arranged at the mortuary. One of the victims was included in the dead bodies, in which he was not dead but that was a failure from the doctors because they should have done the checking properly.”

She said some of the patients were operated on and others admitted. She added that the patients’ medical papers were seized by a command ordered from state house, which she believed was from Jammeh.

After acknowledging that those instructions were wrong, she said she did it out of fear because anything could have happened to her if she would have turned down the instructions.

“Jammeh came to the hospital to check the patients but the patients were not happy and not talking to him as a result they believed he had a hand in the incident. He ordered for three people for overseas treatment in Egypt, funded by the state house. In the incident, government failed in providing the needs of the victims with regard to their treatments.”

She apologised to all patients if they felt that she offended them but affirming that she was just trying to save them.