Residents of Maje in Suleja Local Government Area of Niger state are dying over deplorable nature of hospital in the community.
This is even as an estimated 2000 population depend on the community hospital for their healthcare delivery.
Tracka, a public accountability organization that first exposed the deplorable nature of the hospital says it has no medical equipment to offer medical care to residents that rely on it for their health care delivery.
Community residents who narrated their ordeal over the deplorable nature of the hospital, say they are recording deaths as a result of the appalling nature of the hospital.
Deaths the community residents say happened because the hospital lacks healthcare workers and medical equipment.
This is the deplorable nature of the Maje hospital even as the Niger state government 2022 approved N5.454 billion for community healthcare delivery.
The money approved using the state Primary Health Care Development Agency is meant to improve healthcare delivery in communities in the state.
Out of N5.454 billion approved for the Primary Health Care Development Agency, N4.923 billion was set aside to be expended on capital projects. While the state ministry of health got N21.828 billion approved for it in the 2021 budget.
It is unclear how the Niger State Primary Health Care Development Agency got such a huge allocation, and the Maje community hospital is this deplorable.
A senior official from the Niger State Primary Health Care Development Agency who spoke to MAWA-Foundation but prefers his identity concealed because he is not the right person to speak on the issue, said he is aware not all approved budgets are released, but pointed out that even the released ones are often not properly utilized.
Also, read Deplorable Niger community PHC after N5.454 billion approved health budget
Maje community is a common example in Nigeria where hospitals are allowed to rot, and the citizens who have the means, resort to private healthcare providers while the poor are allowed to die in a deplorable healthcare system.
MAWA-Foundation could not immediately reach out to the Niger State government for an official response.