When a Primary Healthcare Centre (PHC) was constructed at NEPA Mile 7 in Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State, residents said they were excited. Unfortunately, Ibrahim Baba Hassan, a former lawmaker who facilitated the project, refused to hand over the project to the community a year after it was constructed.
Hassan was the former speaker of the House of Assembly who represented his constituency — Jos North-North — for 16 years before he was ousted in the last election.
As the PHC remained locked, residents, including women and children, continued to seek medical attention at Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH) and other facilities. This, they say, takes hours of horrible drive through the dilapidated road linking the community to the city.
The hour-long drive coupled with a bad road network sometimes results in avoidable death.
When a Mother Lost Her Baby
There is no consolation for a mother who loses a child, and there are no words to describe the pain she endures every day. Mariam Adamu remembers her daughter, Maimuna, who died on July 17, 2022.
The bereaved mother said she had just finished Asr (evening prayers) when she heard a disturbing noise.
”I ran out to check where the sound came from, only to see my daughter’s slippers inside the well,” she recalled. ”With the help of my neighbours, my 7-year-old Maimuna was brought out of the well, but we lost her before we could get to the hospital.”
”It was hard to believe when the doctor confirmed her death,” Mariam told WikkiTimes. “The doctor said if she had been brought in a few hours ago, she would have survived.”
The facility, WikkiTimes understands, is meant to meet the people’s immediate health needs. Maimuna’s life might have been saved if it had been functional.
Lukman Hamza Yusuf, a resident of the NEPA community who witnessed the kick-off of the project in 2011 said he has been in the community for the past 50 years and has witnessed devastating scenarios where pregnant women and children die because they could not get to hospitals on time.
“It was meant to serve our medical needs. We were all excited at the kickstart of the clinic,” Hamza told WikkiTimes.
The facility is a one-story building with five rooms and a dispensary room.
Ex-Lawmaker Abandoned Project After Losing Election?
The facility is one of the three health centres the ex-lawmaker facilitated when he was in the office, WikkiTimes gathered. Completed last year in December, the primary healthcare centre in NEPA has not been handed over to the constituents.
Constituents fear the facility might not be beneficial to them as the All Progressives Congress (APC) former lawmaker lost his re-election bid.
The head of Industrial Mechanics at NEPA Mile 7, Halilu Hassan, said the mechanics had lost hope in the project.
“The commissioning of the project is long overdue. The project has lingered for many years now, and we are more disturbed that the Honourable Ibrahim Hassan’s term in office has ended. Our major concern is that he left without commissioning the clinic,” Hassan told WikkiTimes.
Residents Groan
“With no government hospital in NEPA, residents go to other hospitals like Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH), Maternity Hospital, and others for healthcare services,” he added.
Hassan’s son was sick when WikkiTimes visited him at his residence. Pointing to the 11-year-old boy lying helplessly on a bed. He explained that the boy had been sick for some days but didn’t have money to take him to JUTH.
Ashia Ahmed, another resident, said she has spent so much on transportation every weekend for check-ups since her illness started.
“If our clinic was functional, I wouldn’t be suffering like this,” he said.
Bello Madaki, a 12-year-old boy, broke his arm during a friendly football match in school. Since then, his poor mum has been spending more on transportation to take him to the hospital.
“My mum spends so much money on transportation every day, just for my treatment; sometimes, we have to go to the hospital twice a day,” he said. “I pray our clinic will be commissioned so our parents won’t go through financial stress during an emergency.”
Inside the Abandoned PHC
WikkiTimes reporter visited the facility and discovered faeces around it. The stench oozing from the grass-filled confirmed it had become an open defecation field.
In addition, the facility had not been equipped with some basic amenities, except a water tank and its stand “donated” by the former lawmaker.
Fifty-seven years old resident, Khadija Yunusa, who knew when the construction work started said she would never vote in any election ”because all these politicians would come to make promises to us to get our votes and after that, we would not see them again.”
“We want the government to work on commissioning the building. It’s been long overdue,” she said. “When some government officials came early this year, we thought they would commission.”
Another resident, Bilikisu Alu, also said one of the community’s biggest problems was the lack of affordable healthcare facilities.
In Niger, 14 Communities Depend on Defacing PHC Managed by One Staff
She said: “We have private clinics around here, and it is difficult for people to afford healthcare there as most people pay out-of-pocket, and not everybody has health insurance.
“We also lack other basic amenities. We need borehole water, access to good roads, and Government schools. We hope the government will look into our matter.”
Project Funding Not Clear
It was not clear how the former lawmaker sponsored the project as budget documents reviewed between 2007 [when he assumed office] and 2023, showed zero performance.
Further findings showed that the project was first mentioned in the 2018 fiscal year. Secondly, and lastly in 2019, but it was not funded, according to budget performance documents reviewed.
In 2018, N10 million was approved for the construction of the facility. The same amount was allocated for the same project the following year.
The ex-lawmaker, when contacted, did not respond to calls. Further enquiries sent to him had not been responded to as of press time.
Residents Turn to Herbal Medicine
“A community like Nepa Mile 7 without government projects like hospitals, schools, roads, and water has no evidence of democracy,” another resident, Ahmed Hassan, said.
He added: “The major problem we have in the NEPA community is the lack of hospitals. Imagine an industrial workshop where we work with heavy metals; accidents are inevitable. When sick or injured people are taken to the hospitals in town, it takes a long time for them to attend to us, even in emergencies. It takes a lot of processes to make a payment before one can be attended to. If you are sick and you need emergency treatment, it is very hard to attend to you immediately.
Bauchi Health Worker Accused of Blasphemy Continue to Suffer After 18 Months in Detention
“For us here, after struggling through this bad road, you get to the hospital and spend up to two hours before you can be attended to, but assuming we have our health facility, it would have been easier.
“The distance to the hospital discourages pregnant women from going for ante-natal. They hardly go for ante-natal. They hardly bring out their children for immunisation.
“Even some of our mechanics at the garage now turn to herbal medicine regardless of its side effects.
“Honestly, I feel very bad that we don’t have a place we can go immediately for treatment. It also affects us economically.”
Earlier this year, Rukiat Bala had to take her 3-year-old son to the hospital when he developed a fever.
“I spent N1,000 on transportation to take him to JUTH. When I got there, all the health workers were busy. I had to wait for one hour after the test. I took my baby home because I couldn’t afford the fee for treatment. On my way home, I bought some herbal medicine to stem his fever,” she narrated.
A herb seller who tends to some residents of the community told WikkiTimes her herbal medicine is effective for malaria, typhoid, ulcers, piles and arthritis.
“For typhoid and malaria, our herbal mixture costs about N200, which you take before breakfast,” she said.
Ministry of Health React
When WikkiTimes contacted, Victoria Michael, Director of Health Planning Research and Statistics (DHPRS) at the Plateau State Ministry of Health, confirmed that the facility had been completed since last year.
“The clinic is not captured on the District Health Information System 2 (DHIS2),” she told WikkiTimes. “Also there is a lack of inadequate human resources, but plans are still on the ground to commission the clinic.”
This report was completed with the support of the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID).
So informative weldone