Residents of the Doemak Community at Quaan Pan Local Government Area of Plateau State are lamenting over the poor condition of a Primary Healthcare Centre (PHC) in their area, recounting how the situation is making them suffer a lack of good medical care delivery.
Tracka, a public accountability organization that visited the community hospital, says it has no single worker while residents rely upon its poor condition for their medical care.
The condition of Plateau Doemak Community Primary Healthcare Centre is this poor, even though an estimated 5,000 population rely on it for their medical care.
This is the situation in Doemak Community hospital, even as the Plateau State government in 2020 claimed to have spent the sum of N563.9 million on direct healthcare intervention. An amount that is yet to show an impact on community health improvement.
Under the deal, the Plateau State in her 2020 budget performance report shows the sum of N333, 000,000.00 was approved for the Plateau State Primary Health Care Development Agency and N230, 900,000.00 for the Plateau State Contributory Health Care Management Agency, making a total of N563, 900,000 been expended by the state government on direct health intervention with the locals as the primary target.
It is unclear how the Plateau State government spent N563.9 million on direct health intervention in 2020 alone, and virtually all the rural communities in the state have a collapsed health system.
Plateau state is not the only offender, in Nigeria, evidence has shown over the years that governments at the federal, state and local levels are not interested in providing an effective healthcare system which is why the collapse in the health sector is apparent and needs urgent intervention.
Mr. Sunday Dakum, a 39-year-old man who hails from the Doemak Community, and spoke to MAWA from Jos the Plateau State Capital via a telephone conversation described the healthcare centre as “not good a hospital”.
Dakum speaking in an angry tone told MAWA that apart from the building that is standing and old beds, there is nothing in terms of treatment that shows that the hospital can deliver healthcare service to the people.
Dakum, however, said only those who have no alternative to accessing a better healthcare facility, visit the hospital. A situation he attributed to the poor condition of the hospital.
“Do not be deceived by the building you see standing in the community, that is not a hospital, it is empty and cannot deliver healthcare to the people, we had complained to the government about its poor condition, and nothing has been done about it”, Dakum said.
Doemak and other communities in Nigeria have continued to suffer poor healthcare delivery, even as Nigeria National Health Act has officially recognized Nigerians’ right to health and established a Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) to make financial resources available for primary healthcare (PHC) services.
MAWA Foundation could not immediately reach out to the Plateau State government for an official response.