Inside the sorry state of secondary school clinics

The state of clinics in many public secondary schools in the North Central states can best be described as pathetic. While many of the day schools have no provision for clinics, the boarding schools provide sick bays with no functional staff and adequate medication. Daily Trust on Sunday reports in this final series that school managements depend on general hospitals for very ill students or reach out to parents to take their children to one.

From Mumini Abdulkareem (Ilorin), Dickson S. Adama (Jos), Hope Abah Emmanuel (Makurdi) & Adama John (Lokoja)

In Kwara, there’s only paracetamol at the sick bays   

The condition of secondary school clinics in some public schools in Kwara can best be described as pathetic as Daily Trust on Sunday observed that boarding students mostly rely on medical attention outside the school or are handed over to their parents due to lack of adequate medical supplies.

Although schools were not fully in session when our reporter visited some of the schools, some senior students who were still writing their Senior Secondary School Examination at that time corroborated this situation.

At the Government Secondary School (GSS) Ilorin and the Queen Elizabeth College Ilorin, it was gathered that students who fall ill are mostly referred to Temitope and General Hospital Ilorin, both opposite the respective schools for proper medical attention.

“Although the common issue here is malaria, there is hardly any drugs for treatment except common ones like paracetamol,” said a student of one of the schools.

Though the school clinic at the GSS Ilorin was under lock and key when Daily Trust correspondent visited, snapshots of the sick bay were taken through broken louvres of the building which contains two separate rooms and an empty store that may have been designated for drugs.  

It was learnt that six beds were provided for each room at inception but only about three were seen without mattress in one of the rooms while a single mattress was sighted on the floor of the other room, heavily covered with dust.

At the Queen Elizabeth College, Ilorin, a staff told our correspondent that there was no permanent doctor on ground to attend to the students while the nurses are lord to themselves coming from the ministry.

“Most times, we take the children to the General Hospital when they are ill or contact their parents who take such a child to their private hospitals. There is really not much at the clinic except for paracetamol,” he said.

When contacted, the Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development in Kwara State, Hajia Sa’adatu Modibbo Kawu promised get back to our reporter later. She however did not do so at the time of filing of this report. 

Poor clinic condition, lack of personnel in Plateau boarding schools

Most public secondary schools in Plateau State do not have functional clinics, mainly due to lack of medical personnel to manage them. Daily Trust on Sunday gathered that in the boarding schools, the physical structures are available but the non-boarding schools have none. Nonetheless, both have no functioning facilities.

A source in the state’s education sector, who preferred anonymity, said asides from some schools that have some drugs in the office to give to students who are ill, there is hardly any public school with an operational clinic with qualified doctors or nurses.

The source said some schools only have first aid boxes as the only symbol of their medical facility, while others do not even have except drugs they keep in different containers. Our correspondent who went around some secondary schools in Jos, gathered that at the Government Secondary School Tudun-Wada (which is a day school), parents are usually called to take their children to the hospitals in case of severe illnesses. A student said there was no clinic in the school but that the Health Mistress keeps a first aid kit with drugs. 

It was a similar situation at the Government Secondary School West of Mine, another day school, where a student told Daily Trust on Sunday that drugs are administered to students who fall ill by the Health Teacher and the Health Prefect.

However, at the Government College Jos, which is a boarding school, there is a sick bay but no doctors or nurses to attend to the few ill students laying in the sick bay. Our correspondent gathered that the sick bay is overseen by the Chemistry teacher, who also doubles as the Health Mistress in the school.

Sources told Daily Trust on Sunday that the school used to have a nurse who left about six years ago. Since then, the school manages to attend to sick students while severe cases are referred to partner hospitals.

Efforts to get the reaction of the Plateau State Commissioner for Secondary Education, Elizabeth Wapmuk, on the subject matter was not successful as her line did not connect and a text message sent to her was not replied.   

Benue and Kogi offer first aid services to students

In Benue State, most of the boarding secondary schools visited have sick bays to cater for students and staff ailments even though the sick bays only offer first aid treatment. Our correspondents report that the sick bays provide users with opportunity to seek early medical attention.

At the Mount Saint Gabriel Secondary School in Makurdi, the sick bay was locked because students were said to be on holidays even though some students were still in school writing their Senior School Certificate examinations.

A student of the school who didn’t want his name disclosed and was writing exams then, said the sick bay is functional, but that it was locked up because majority of the students had gone on holidays.

He added that there were sufficient drugs for minor ailments such as malaria or common cold for those who sought the treatment but when the illnesses require more medical attention, the students were often referred to higher health institutions or their parents are called to take them home.

In the same vein, no body was found at the clinic at Government College Makurdi when our correspondent visited as the doors were locked up. A peep through the windows showed few beds and other medical equipment in the room housing the sickbay.

It was gathered from a staff of the school who preferred anonymity that the sickbay was always opens to students and staff on daily basis even when the institution is on holidays. “But I think the staff at the sickbay stepped out and that’s why the place is locked,” he said.

The case is similar in Kogi State where the principal of Saint Thomas Aquinas Secondary School Lokoja, Sister Getrude Chika Attam, said the college has provision for first aid medical attention to take care of ailing students within the school premises.

Established by the Catholic Diocese of Lokoja, the school, according to the principal, extends the opportunity to cases of injuries when the need arises with full prescribed medication that the school gives to them.

However, she said that should there be serious cases beyond the scope of the school, such are referred to any of the two hospitals around that the school is attached to.

She said that before such decision is taken, the management would have consulted the parents of the affected student on their intention to seek proper medical attention for their wards.

She disclosed that some parents like to take their wards to private hospitals of their choice where they are confident that their private doctors will give proper attention to them.