Jankasa: How pregnant women die because of no health facility

Jankasa is a rural community that lies between Kajuru and Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State. The community has been in existence for over 50years, yet lacks essential amenities such as a health centre, portable water, no secondary school, electricity and access road.
The community is worse hit by the absence of a health facility-it does not have either a primary nor secondary level health care centre ,where the immediate health needs of its over 600 population can be met . The community also lacks a chemist or pharmacy where they can seek first aid treatment, or buy over the counter drugs.
Residents of the community said they usually travel over 20kilometres to access the nearest primary health care centre. This situation, they say is causing deaths in the community particularly that of women and children.
Daily Trust Health Desk gathered that one pregnant woman, and three babies have died this year due to the delay in reaching the nearest health facility to the village.
Many pregnant women were said to have given birth on the road to the hospital while some of those who developed complications didn’t make it to the nearest hospital alive.
Our correspondent observed that there were hardly any vehicles in sight in the community. The residents of the  community rely mostly on commercial motorcycles.
A resident of the area, Daniel Ali popularly called Coach said he was born in the community 45 years ago and has been living there ever since. He lamented that members of the community suffer a lot as a result of the lack of health care centre and accessible roads to go to neighboring places which are usually very far.
He said they normally carry pregnant women or sick people on motorcycles to the hospital either in Kasuwar Magani or Kujama, which is over 20kilometres away from Jankasa, adding, “We hardly get vehicle to transport us because the road is bad. Since, there is no electricity, we use torch light and lantern to see at night. We lack government attention, the only time we see politicians is during campaigns when they come to make promises that they never fulfill.”
Narrating the story about the women and babies that died this year, he said, “The woman was already tired before reaching  the hospital, and she was to be  operated  on but died even before the operation. Also, the babies died in the process of delivery or some shortly after delivery. Majority of  the pregnant women run out of strength before getting to the hospital due to the distance, and condition of the road, which is very bad.”
Another resident, Rachael Musa lamented that many women don’t go for ante-natal care, and have also resorted to giving birth at home due to the stress they undergo before getting to a hospital.
A pregnant woman who gave her name as Asabe Joshua said she prefers to give birth at home rather than going to hospital. The mother of two said the pain  one  passes through going to the hospital makes one prefer to deliver at home in company of other women. “We need a primary health care in the village,” she said.
Findings by this reporter also showed that there is no single traditional birth attendant in the village, yet the women prefer to give birth at home.
The youth leader of the village, Garba Gajere, said residents of the community are afraid because they don’t know how many more women, they are going to loss this year , adding that if government provides a primary health care centre in the community , it will go a long way in saving the lives of their women and children.
Like every other state in the country, Kaduna is faced with some challenges, which results in increased maternal mortality and neonatal deaths in the rural areas.
Findings however reveals that while some PHCs in the state are overcrowded by clients, some are less patronized either due to distance or insufficient health personnel and infrastructure.