Published: April 17, 2026
GBARNGA, Bong County — More than four in five clinics in Bong County are in such poor condition they fail basic standards, a county-wide assessment has found, with the funding gap so severe that one facility has resorted to diagnosing patients by assumption rather than laboratory testing.
County Health Officer Dr. Daanue Paye Zwuogbae said only 11 of more than 50 clinics are currently functional, and that restoring the county’s health infrastructure to an adequate standard would require $1.6 million. The national government has budgeted $170,000 for the entire County Health Team this year.
“If this amount is shared across the facilities, it will not produce any tangible progress,” Zwuogbae said.
The consequences of that gap are already playing out at the Gbartala Community Clinic, where the absence of a laboratory has pushed workers into diagnostic guesswork. Officer-in-Charge Roy Ford said patients presenting with multiple possible conditions are routinely assumed to have typhoid because it is common, not because tests confirm it.
“We don’t have a lab, so we misdiagnose cases,” Ford said. “When patients come with certain symptoms, we often conclude it is typhoid because it is prevalent, but we lack the equipment to confirm.”
A local fundraising drive to build a laboratory has collected just 80,000 Liberian dollars, far short of what construction would cost. Appeals to county officials and prominent stakeholders have gone unanswered.
The findings have drawn pointed political criticism. Orpah Quiminee, a resident of Bong County District 2, said it was telling that officials who once publicly criticized the health system’s failures, including Deputy Health Minister Martha Morris, have yet to produce improvements now that they hold authority.
“It is disappointing that the health sector remains plagued with these challenges despite those who once spoke against them now being in positions of authority,” Quiminee said.
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