Toro Local Government Area of Bauchi State is the most populous local government area in Nigeria and West Africa. Toro has nearly 1.2 million people largely small-scale business people.
By proximity, the local government area shares boundary with Plateau, Kaduna, and Kano states.
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Despite its large population, the General Hospital in Toro is the only government hospital having an average standard in terms of professional medical practitioners and manpower in the area.
However, apart from Toro, four other local government areas from the neighbouring states use the facility.
These local government areas include Jos North, Jos East, Lere in Kaduna and parts of Bauchi Local Government Area.
Every day, the hospital administers no fewer than 200 patients from these local government areas excluding Toro.
Consequently, the General Hospital Toro has become the busiest health facility in Bauchi State after Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital and the Specialist Hospital all in Bauchi metropolis.
This implies that approximately 1.5 million people share the facility from five local government areas.
However, the main concern here is not the issue of population. The concern is on the inadequate facilities in the hospital in terms of professional medical practitioners and adequate bed spaces, among others, that can serve the need of the 1.5 million people sharing a single health institution.
The truth of the matter is that the General Hospital Toro lacks the facilities to accommodate and serve the need of the population that troop to the hospital for treatment every day.
This has resulted in a situation where patients are being neglected not because the medical personnel are not doing their best but because the issue is far beyond their control due to insufficient facilities including staff.
Every single unit at the General Hospital Toro is occupied and congested, especially the antenatal clinic to an extent that a pregnant woman can take three to four days before seeing a doctor unless it’s an emergency situation.
Still there is the inadequacy of beds in the hospital; patients are receiving treatment on mats due to insufficient beds.
Therefore, people of Toro and its neighbouring local government areas need urgent intervention especially in this pandemic period. This can be done by upgrading the General Hospital Toro to a Federal Medical Centre or provide the hospital with more facilities as well as staff in order to save lives. Currently, the hospital cannot serve the need of the people.
Ukasha Rabiu Magama,
Toro Local Government Area,
Bauchi State
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