President Joseph Boakai in consideration of his administration’s development agenda styled ARREST is looking to pick someone who will bring on board innovative financing tools to successfully execute the health component of the program amidst competing national priorities in the face of limited resources.
Multiple actors in the sector point to a lady who they vet as neat fit for the role of Chief Executive Officer of the nation’s premiere referral and teaching hospital, the John F. Kennedy Medical Center.
Dama Reter Yekeson-Koffa served as Deputy Chief Executive Officer for Administration at the hospital winning the admiration of many people on account of her performance.
Dama, appears to match the profile, which the President has envisioned.
She’s credited by scores of employees and medical professionals for driving the development agenda of the Medical Center over the last six years and has a vast understanding and experience to restore the Medical Center to its pre-war status, given her role in the position of Deputy CEO for Administration.
From several sources at the JFK, including consultants, specialist doctors, nurses and support staff, Mrs. Koffa was instrumented in attracting public-private sector donors to fund key infrastructure projects and programs at the hospital.
For instance NOCAL sponsored the establishment of an Intensive Care Unit and Trauma Center. The ICU was non-existent since the 1990 civil war at the Medical Center. Now it has been reestablished and equipped.
Due to her hard-work, JFKMC can boast of the only Trauma Center in Liberia of 25 bed capacity.
Thinking outside the box, she worked tirelessly with the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning for the renovation of the VIP/Executive Suite that has been lying in ruins since 1990.
Not seeing the possibility of financing from the government, she convinced her Boss and the Board to seek alternative funding for the project, through a repayment plan with a construction company through internal generated revenue.
Today, JFKMC can boast of a 20 bed VIP/Executive Suite. Through proposals developed through the leadership of Mrs. Koffa and approved by the Board of Directors, the United Bank of Africa was approved to provide 24/7 banking services, meaning direct deposit of patient fees.
She is attempting to harness the domestic revenue potential of the Medical Center, moving away from the dependency syndrome of looking to the national budget for financing.
Dama is working assiduously to fully automate financial management, supply chain and service delivery functions at the Medical Center, thus minimizing paper-based transactions, and solving the old age of “missing charts.”
According to a senior Consultant doctor at the Medical Center, Dama has the nuance to greatly transform the Medical Center, making it financial, medical and operational sustainable.
As a former John Hopkins Bayview Medical Center employee, she understands the excess of issues that has bedeviled the Medical Center for years including shortage of drugs and laboratory consumables.
According to the doctor, Mrs. Koffa was very instrumental in securing contracts through the approval of the Board of Directors for the direct supply of drugs and medical supplies directly from the two companies in Ghana, thus putting an end to this nightmare.
Mrs. Yekeson-Koffa had the privilege of working at John Hopkins Bayview Medical Center as an Anesthesia provider from 2014-2017. She also worked at the University of Maryland Medical Center System in Baltimore, Maryland, R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, Baltimore Maryland, Veterans Hospital, Washington DC, John Hopkins Medical Center, Baltimore, Maryland, University of North Carolina Hospital, and Bayer Pharmaceutical Company in Clayton, North Carolina.
She has a vast experience across several sub-specialties, a knowledge needed to turn JFK around.
According to one foreign surgeon who was involved in the treatment of the Totota Burn victims, Dama extensive knowledge in the management of burn victims was key in the level of improvement and survive rate recorded.
Her personal involvement in their treatments and the system she put in place to cater to the victims was outstanding, he said. To this end, she demonstrated her proficiency in emergency medicine and trauma.
In the unfortunate incident involving score of partisans of the Unity Party in the aftermath of the Nov. 2023 presidential victory, she provided her support to cater to patients, organizing a system to provide timely feedbacks to the Party in the treatment of patients.
Sitting, watching and working along with her CEO and Chief Medical Officer, a senior nursing staff speaking on condition of anonymity as all health workers and doctors mentioned here due to professional ethics, said Dama has the magic to move JFK Medical Center to a new level.
She described Mrs. Koffa the go-to-person for all employees and managers to solve issues at the Medical Center and that her office for the past six years was the most accessible office.
An Administrator of one of the Hospitals credited Mrs. Koffa for seeking the welfare of employees and drive the annual founder’s day program to recognize the services of employees, which is regarded as the first of its kind since the establishment of the Medical Center for the Center to have massively celebrated its employees and long service staff.
A third year resident student in weighing the appointment of Mrs. Yekeson-Koffa, said that the President will be making no mistake to elevate her to the position of CEO as in his words: “she has demonstrated leadership throughout the six years and not only does she have the passion and integrity to accelerate the growth of the Medical Center but the zest to transform the Medical center into a medical oasis, making it the number one medical facility in Liberia.
A Senior staff described her as having the unwavering commitment to shake JFK Medical Center out of its current quagmire, allowing it to provide the Liberian people the fundamental right of access to health regardless of status.
He intoned that she stands as the bastion of hope to resuscitate the JFK Medical from its current nightmare of no drugs and modern equipment to deliver quality care patients. He credited her for wanting to bring systems in America to the Medical Center.
