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CLAIM: A viral Facebook post shared by the Hawanatu Konneh Network claims that Connaught Hospital will be closed for six weeks starting July 21st, 2025, to allow for major renovation works, especially in the mortuary and postmortem departments.
VERDICT: Misleading. According to the official press release from the Connaught Hospital Management and the Ministry of Health, only the Connaught Hospital Mortuary will be closed for six weeks, not the entire hospital.
Full Text
On July 24, 2025, a Facebook post from the page Hawanatu Konneh Network claimed that “Connaught Hospital will be closed for 6 weeks starting from July 21st.”
The post added that this closure was necessary for renovation, particularly in the mortuary and postmortem departments. The post confused social media users who assumed that the entire Connaught Hospital, one of the nation’s leading referral hospitals, would be closed.
DUBAWA, therefore, decided to verify the claim as part of our mandate to promote truth and accuracy in public discourse.
Verification
In investigating the claim, DUBAWA found an official press release dated 19th July 2025, issued by the University of Sierra Leone Teaching Hospitals Complex (Connaught Hospital). It was signed in collaboration with the Ministry of Health.
The press release clearly stated in part,
“The Connaught Hospital Mortuary will be temporarily closed for comprehensive renovation and structural upgrading effective Monday, 21st July 2025, for a period of six (6) weeks.”
It further explained that this renovation is part of a broader effort to modernise mortuary services and improve post-mortem care in Sierra Leone. The mortuary’s nearly 50-year-old refrigeration equipment and electrical systems are no longer sustainable. Dr. Austin Demby, Minister of Health, was quoted in the release saying,
“We have acquired 10 brand new mortuary refrigerators to be installed in key hospitals across the country, including Connaught. However, it is not feasible to place such sensitive equipment in structurally compromised facilities.”
Connaught Hospital will remain open during the six-week renovation period and continue to offer health services. Temporary arrangements have only been made for mortuary-related services such as autopsies and corpse preservation at 34 Military Hospital, Jui Hospital, and Police Hospital.
Conclusion
The claim that Connaught Hospital is closed for six weeks is misleading. Only the mortuary department has been temporarily shut down for structural upgrades and renovation. Other hospital services remain operational.
