For over 10 years and still counting, over 8,000 people from the neighbourhood of Bangarati, a community in Misau local government area of Bauchi State, troop to the only completely rotten Primary Healthcare Centre in the village for medical services where only three staff with three beds attend to them amid continues negligence from the government.
There are eleven settlements around Bangarati – Manumawa, Biskori, Barigida, Yadori, Kulebadi, Bukadi, Wunrukada, Alhajo, Masori, S.Bagaranti and Bangarati itself. Each settlement has about 1,000 population.
Bangarati PHC, constructed over 30 years ago, remains in deplorable condition even after residents bitterly complained to authorities about the need to fix the hospital to enable them to get better healthcare services in line with accepted best practices.
The roof of the hospital has completely worn out. Every section of the building is littered with remnants of leaking water, forcing health workers working at the facility to treat patients seeking medical care from the centre on the basis of ‘out-patient service.”
Because of the leaking roofs and inadequate beds, Bangarati PHC doesn’t admit patients. A staff Bangarati PHC said, “Patients are not admitted here because we have only three-bed spaces which cannot in any way accommodate the number of patients coming here every day.
Rain distorts orderliness at the hospital. All available equipment has to park at a corner of the building to keep it away from leaking water for preservation.
WikkiTimes further observed that wall cracks adore the building with big holes around the shrubs-surrounded medical facility where an average of 25 patients seeking medical care visit daily.
From a closer look, one can see lizards and other reptiles harbouring in the cracked wall of the PHC. A peep through the cracked wall from outside displays two chairs and a table that the three staff of the hospital use while attending to patients.
Lack of medical equipment in the hospital, drugs and other hospital consumables further denied residents a befitting healthcare service that they deserved. “We buy drugs for simple Malaria treatment. We cannot get them from the hospital,” a sick woman who visited the hospital for treatment of Malaria said.
During WikkiTimes’ visit to the hospital, staff of the hospital could be seen coming with simple medical equipment that naturally ought to be provided to them by the government.
“We have to come with some of the needed tools to help our patients get medical treatment. We felt very bad when patients come for medical attention but they could not get what they deserved.
“What we do here is to make sure that patients get at least three percent out of the five percent treatment that they are supposed to get,” a staff of the hospital who does not want to appear in print told our reporter.
Bangarati Pregnant Women Travels 3km To Access Antenatal Care
As none of the three available staff manning Bangarati Primary Health Care Centre is a midwife, pregnant women from the community and its neighbourhoods travel a distance of 3km to access antenatal care at Misau General Hospital.
Read: Admission Malpractice, Assault On School Laws Threaten Academic Quality At Bauchi Health College
Local health staffs back home in Bangarati traditionally refer pregnant women to Misau General Hospital where they spent N400 on transportation. However, because of the socio-economic placement of most families in the community, only a women few afford the journey to Misau town for antenatal.
“Once pregnancy is detected in a woman, she gets a referral letter to Misau General Hospital for antennal care,” said another staff of Bangarati PHC.
WikkiTimes learned that some women on labour died before getting to Misau as the road network linking Bangarati to Misau is in tatters.
Bauchi Primary Healthcare Agency Failed To Comment
Dr Rilwanu Mohammed, Executive Chairman, Bauchi State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, could not be reached on phone for comment as he did not pick up calls placed through his line.
He did not also reply to the Short Message Service, SMS, sent to him at press time.
