Paiko community residents in the Gwagwalada Area Council of Federal Capital FCT-Abuja, the Nigerian capital city are groaning over a community Primary Healthcare Centre (PHC) that has begun dilapidation barely six weeks after it was completed and commissioned.
The Paiko community that is Mr. Philip Aduda, the FCT lawmaker constituency project was poorly built with substandard material, the locals said.
Confirming the poor quality of work done in the hospital, the locals showed MAWA Foundation how its roof fell off, forcing the management to bring a local carpenter to fix it back. A work that is not properly done by the local carpenter.
On a visit to the hospital, one sees that all the hospital beds for patients are old. The locals said the situation arose because, instead of Mr. Aduda and the agency that built the hospital buying new beds, they resorted to using old beds from the old community hospital that has since been abandoned.
In angry tones, the locals told MAWA that there is no single piece of new equipment purchased in the hospital to make it function efficiently.
The Primary Healthcare Centre has no drugs, those who visit it for their medical care are asked by the health workers to buy drugs from other places before they can be treated, the locals told MAWA.
Speaking in disturbing tones, the locals said health workers have continually shown negligence in their duty. In affirmative voices, they pointed out how the health workers resume duty by 10: am and close by 4: pm irrespective of any situation they need to handle before leaving.
They, however, disclosed that the only person that stays in the hospital up till 6: pm and during the weekend is the focal person. They expressed concern that the hospital does not function at night, a situation they say is very dangerous in the case of an emergency.
A Community Champion who does not want his identity revealed because he is under threat from politicians and their supporters, told MAWA that the poorly built Paiko Primary Healthcare Centre is meant to serve an estimated 5,000 population.
Mr. Isaac Utaz, a Gwagwalada resident, who claims to have been to the PHC twice, described it as poorly built while pointing out that it is likely to collapse if an adequate renovation is not carried out to save it from collapse.
He, however, appealed to Mr. Aduda, the FCT Lawmaker, and the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) to immediately visit the community hospital to provide renovation in places needed and good beds for patients.
“If not corruption, how does one explain that a community hospital that was completed and commissioned in FCT – Abuja barely six weeks is already collapsing”, Utaz told MAWA.
The deplorable condition of Healthcare Centres found all over communities in FCT, shows that the Nigerian state is yet to realize that Primary Health Care is a frontline response to about 80 percent of the country’s population’s health needs.
And, if the Nigerian state must address her health challenges, she must acknowledge that Primary Healthcare Centres are fundamental, and ensures they are strong and effective to deliver service to the people.
MAWA Foundation could not immediately reach out to Mr. Adudal, the FCT Lawmaker, and the hospital management for official responses.