By: Henry B. Gboluma, Jr. | Gbarpolu Correspondent
Palakwelleh Town, Gbarpolu County |April 17, 2026|Women in Guo Nwolailai District say they walk over three hours to reach the only functioning clinic in the district, with some pregnant women giving birth on the road or in the hands of untrained community members.
Now they are pleading for help to complete a self-initiated clinic project that has stalled for almost ten years, just doors and finishing work away from serving over 17,000 residents.
The clinic, started in 2017 by citizens from the district now living in the Americas, sits zinc-roofed, plastered, and floored in Palakwelleh Town. But without iron doors, glass windows, a hand pump, placenta pit, wiring, and a water system, it cannot meet the Ministry of Health standards or open its doors.
A health-conscious community whose effort not only ought to claim national health authority but warrant urgent engagement cum health in completing the Palakwelleh clinic.
Yankai Kellenu, Chairlady of Palakwelleh town, said that “we walk five, six hours to get to the only clinic in the district.” Sometimes pregnant women deliver while walking to reach the clinic according to her.
”At times, some even deliver in communities in the hands of community people,” she said, “This is why after the war, we have been waiting for a clinic but up to the present, no way yet.”
Kpannah Harris, Chairlady of Guo Nwolailai District, called on the government and partners to finish what “our children in the Americas started.”
“This district is one of the hardest to reach districts in the whole of Liberia,” Harris added. “No car roads, we are surrounded by waters,” she sadly indicated and promptly adding “We can enter this district through canoes.
We only move using our feet and motorcycles on our road built by hand. We too want to be part of not just Gbarpolu but Liberia. Let the government connect us with roads to help reduce our suffering in this part of Liberia.”
She also explained that when the only clinic in the district, located in Kpayeakwelleh Town, cannot handle a case, patients must be carried in a hammock to the St. Paul River, crossed by canoe, and then put in a car to reach Phebe Hospital in Bong County.
“Last year, my son’s stomach was running. For us to take him from Palakwelleh to get to the clinic, my son died on the way,” Harris said. “So, we want your help for this to make our clinic work for us here. That is the main one yet.”
Liberia’s National Community Health Policies 2023–2032 and 2019 Revised Public Health Law require every citizen to live within 5 km or a 1-hour walk of a clinic operating 8 hours daily. Yet in Guo Nwolailai District, citizens walk over 3 hours to reach the district’s only clinic.
This is why residents are now trying to close that gap themselves by initiating their self-funded clinic.
Noah M. Sapiah, Chairman of the Committee overseeing the proposed Clinic project, confirmed the structure is closed up and balance work remains largely unfunded. Hence, this public appeal to national government and health related organizations to timely intervene in completing the Guo Nwolailai clinic.
In an exclusive interview, Noah said, “Yes, we are building on the ground here at the headquarters of Palakwelleh,” he said that this project is being constructed by citizens who were residing here and they are in America.
”They decided to help the district with the clinic,” Sapiah said.
He said work stopped when money ran out.
“They are hanging the doors, but certain time came, there was no money to complete the work, so they left. Since that time, nothing has been done.”
Sapiah added that plastering and flooring are done, but doors and ceiling remain. “For now, we need money to have the building completed because that money does everything.”
For his part, Guo Nwolailai District Commissioner Milton Gartee said Palakwelleh once hosted the district’s only clinic from the 1960s until the civil crisis destroyed it in the 1990s.
“From that time to the present we have not had clinics, only the one in Kpayeakwelleh Town that is functional,” Gartee said. “Palakwelleh is the biggest town in the whole Guo Nwolailai District and it also feeds other cluster communities with a huge population up to 20,000, so having this project completed will be very important to us.”
He said that in an effort to complete the project, organized a fundraising program.
”I organized a ‘dollar rally’ last year that raised about $15,000 LD, but called it “just like a drop in a pit.”
Meanwhile, Commissioner said while he is asking their citizens and humanitarian support to complete this project, he is also working with the Project Committee to get full cost estimates to present to the Gbarpolu County Council for consideration.
The County Council is the highest decision making body in Gbarpolu that approves development projects in line with the 2018 Local Government Act of Liberia.
The proposed clinic is designed with a pharmacy room, dispensary room, waiting area, seven rooms, and three bathrooms. When completed, it would relieve pressure on the district’s only functioning health facility and serve residents who currently travel long distances for care.
According to the Gbarpolu County Health Team Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, the building still requires floor tiles, iron front and back doors, glass windows to replace planks, a hand pump, placenta pit, plus electrical wiring and a water system to operate day and night.
For now, the building remains closed, surrounded by bush, waiting for the final push that residents hope will finally turn their 10-year dream into reality.
