Despite funds allocated to primary health care centres across local government areas in Plateau State for many years, poor maintenance and lack of furnishing are threatening the facilities.
Weekend Trust learnt that since 2017, the Plateau State Government has been releasing funds for equipment, furnishing or reconstruction of the health centres, yet their condition has continued to deteriorate.
A document to this effect was obtained by our correspondent from the Accountability Lab Nigeria, a nonprofit organisation, which is part of a global trans-local network of labs that make governance work for people by supporting active citizens, responsible leaders and accountable institutions. This was through its Anti-Corruption Innovation Project (ACIP) carried out in the state in partnership with the Open Contracting Partnership, with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Our correspondent who visited some of the facilities in some communities learnt that most of them do not have permanent workers; they are run by volunteers and ad hoc staff.
A visit to Kishi II in Bassa Local Government Area revealed that nothing has been done to give the health centre a facelift for over 20 years when it was built. While there is shortage of staff, medicines and medical equipment, Weekend Trust reports that the dilapidated mud building still has broken windows and doors, yet it was said that the sum of N9,500,000 was approved for its reconstruction in 2019. The contractor expected to handle the project was named as Ingona Nigeria Ltd.
But members of the community who spoke with our correspondent said they were not aware of such allocation for the reconstruction of the health centre, neither had any renovation work done on the facility since it was built with mud over two decades ago.
They said that due to the dilapidated state of the health centre, they mostly go to a nearby community where there are improved facilities for care whenever they fall ill.
Speaking to our correspondent on the plight of workers in the facility, a health attendant, Jummai Bulus, said a doctor would regularly come from a neighbouring village to attend to patients, adding that he is in charge of drug purchase and has been doing his best to improvise as there is inadequate equipment.
“This health centre has been here for over 20 years, but since then, nothing has been done to uplift it. It is the only health centre in this vicinity. We admit patients but we don’t always have adequate medicines, equipment or laboratory for testing.
“The doctor can diagnose for malaria, but once it is beyond that, we often refer the patients to Binchi Primary Health Care Centre,” she said.
She said they had never heard that the government approved fund for the health centre for reconstruction or anything related to that.
On the issue insecurity, especially looking at the fact that the building has broken windows and doors, Jummai said they had been managing the facility like that and no one had ever broken into it to steal anything. She added that villagers cherish their efforts and services, as well as the presence of the centre, although it cannot cater for all their health needs.
Lack of good structure, equipment and staff is affecting the health centre in many ways, said a member of the community, Yohanna Iliya. He called on the state government to come to their aid.
According to him, whenever he falls sick he usually goes to Binchi because he is not sure of getting the required treatment at the Joshi II health centre.
Another resident of the community, Angau Yunana, lamented that the challenge with going to Binchi to get any medical attention beyond the Kishi Primary Health Care Centre is that the road is not good and often impassable. He added that anyone with a serious health challenge that needs urgent medical attention would waste much time on the road, a situation that could have dire consequences, especially as the commonest means of transportation in that area are motorcycles.
He appealed to the state government to reconstruct and equip the facility so that the people would not be forced to go to another community for basic health care services.
It was also learnt that money was released for the primary health care centre in Kwalmiya village of Dengi in Kanam Local Government Area of the state in 2019, but the people said they were not aware of such gesture. The contractor is said to be Spectakula Global Services.
A senior district head of Kanam, Kwalmiya headquarters, Idris Shehu, told our correspondent that the Kwalmiya Primary Health Centre was built in 1982 and it had been getting assistance from the World Bank, which recently assisted the facility to engage three personnel.
Shehu said the furnishing had become obsolete until two years ago when the former Deputy Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly, Shehu Saleh Yipmong, who represented the host constituency, supplied new furnishing materials to boost the medical facility and keep it going. He, however, said that more of such gestures were needed.
He said the community had set up a committee to oversee the affairs of the health centre and report back to enable them make communal efforts to address its needs to the best of their ability.
Shehu revealed that the community was, however, able to procure a power generator for the facility until the World Bank intervened and donated solar electricity.
The imam of the community, Abdullahi Ibrahim, also said that lack of manpower and medicine was seriously affecting the health centre. He added that there were often no drugs to administer to patients, even for the treatment of basic sicknesses, so they would be made to go to a chemist to buy such drugs. He, therefore, called on the state government to come to their rescue.
Another primary health centre at Kunkyam village of the same Dengi has similar issues. The contractor is also said to be Spectakula Global Services and the furnishing sum is N5,000,000, awarded in 2019.
Kibal Malmyim Mimi, a volunteer staff and medical laboratory technician at the Kunkyam Primary Health Centre, said that over the years, new facilities had not been brought to the facility, except two beds, painting and solar panels supplied last year.
Mimi said the facility was in dire need of a lot of equipment, including water supply system and power stabiliser.
An ad hoc staff of Kunkyam Primary Health Centre, Abdulazeez Nurudeen Adamu, corroborated Mimi’s position, adding that some drugs were supplied last year but they were not sufficient. He also said they needed more manpower and equipment.
Also speaking on the condition of the health facility, Haruna Idris Amin, a member of Kunkyam community and former deputy chairman of Kanam Local Government, said there was need for staff quarters and toilets. He added that part of the roof was about to collapse if not repaired immediately.
Amin, however, said he observed that partial renovation work was done at the health centre but members of the community were not carried along, except for the construction of a toilet, which is yet to be completed.
Weekend Trust also visited Bidol Primary Health Centre in Mangu Local Government Area, where it was gathered that apart from painting, no new equipment or other things were supplied to the facility. The project is said to have been through a selective tender and direct labour, with a total of N150,000,000.
But villagers said they were not aware that a large sum of N150,000,000 was allocated to the health centre, yet there’s not much on ground to show for it.
Our correspondent also observed that the female ward has two mattresses but there is none in the male ward.
A volunteer staff of the centre, Lilian Lazarus, said anytime patients were more than two, they were admitted to the emergency ward since there are no sufficient mattresses.
She said they appreciated the renovation work by the government but more still needed to be done as promised.
She said the three volunteers in the facility were not paid, and they run shift.
She also said they urgently needed laboratory equipment to be able to run a series of tests on patients so as to administer proper treatments.
Yevrem Enoch Dabuk said parts of the health centre were built by members of the community. He lamented that the facility was not meeting the health needs of the people of the community, adding that giving the centre an outer facelift without the necessary health equipment and personnel amounted to nothing. He said such facilities were meant to properly care for the health needs of the people.
Reacting, the director, Plateau PHC, Michael Dennis Lamu, said that since they came on board in 2023, they had been trying to improve the standard of medical facilities across the state, adding that it is part of the core agenda of the Caleb Mutfwang administration.
He said they had received reports of the bad condition of primary health care centres in various communities across the state, a situation he said preceded the current administration. He added that they were trying to sort things out to know what has been going on so that they would be able to fix the situation accordingly.
Lngona Nigeria Limited which was said to have handled the N9,500,000 worth contract for the construction of Kishi Primary Health Centre in Bassa Local Government Area in 2019 could not be reached as there was no record of theirs with the Bureau for Public Procurement Plateau State.
This was confirmed by Danlami Christopher who is the Senior Clerical officer/Desk officer E-procurement of the Bureau.
Similarly, the state Primary Health Care board, through Lamu Dennis Michael, said it does not have the record of the company also, when our correspondent also reached out to the board.
And their website, when checked, did not have the contacts (phone number(s), email(s) or addresses of the company.
On the other hand, Spectacular Global Services which was said to furnish Kunkyam and Kwalmiya PHC in Kanam LGA with the sum of N5,000,000 each in 2019, which was allocated to the company (totalling N10 million) was equally contacted.
The company has its base in Jos, and the Managing Director, who does not want his name in print, said the furnishing of the facilities was carried out according to the contract terms included in the checklist, adding that the furnishings was done accordingly and it included hospital consumables.
The MD (who objected to reveal his name on phone) added that the supply of the items then (2019) was done alongside the Primary Health Care Department Agency in Plateau State.
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