Dilapidated Nasarawa Community Hospital after N12 billion health allocation claim.

Agency Report

Residents of the Angwa Ruwa-Boher in Akwanga Local Government Area of Nasarawa State are battling a lack of healthcare facilities as a result of the dilapidated condition of a Primary Healthcare Centre they rely upon for their medical care.

The Angwa Ruwa-Boher community hospital has continued to be this dilapidated even as the Nasarawa State Government under the leadership of Mr. Abdullahi Sule, the Governor in 2021 claims to have allocated N12 billion to health.

This is even as an estimated 2,000 population in the community, rely solely upon the dilapidated Nasarawa Community Healthcare Centre for their medical care.

Tracka, a public accountability organization that first exposed the dilapidated condition of Healthcare, says it lacks qualified personnel and equipment to deliver healthcare to the people.

The community inhabitants in different narratives recounted how they built the hospital using mud blocks without the assistance of the government. A project they said was embarked upon as a result of their desperate desire for a healthcare facility having realized a lack of government interest in providing healthcare to them.

The community residents say their situation is more dangerous because there is no Healthcare close to them. And, in cases of emergency, there is no alternative, rather the patients are left to be treated in the dilapidated hospital.

The Dilapidated Angwa Ruwa-Boher Community Hospital. Photo Credit: Tracka

According to them, in such a situation, the family and relatives of the patients have no hope but to pray for God’s intervention for healing.

Mr. Polycarp Auta, a journalist that lives in Akwanaga, and claims to have knowledge of hospitals’ condition in the local government, described them as deplorable and unfit to deliver healthcare.

According to Mr. Auta, “community hospitals in the locality are largely deplorable and in bad shape. Where you find a structure standing, you hardly could find adequate facilities, equipment, and even drugs”.

“Lack of health workers is another challenge, and where you could find a few hands, you will realize that they aren’t qualified. Where you find a few of the qualified ones, you will see that there hasn’t been training to enable deliver on their duties” Auta added.

“That’s the sad tale and people get to die on a daily basis because the hospitals in communities aren’t well fixed to provide the primary services,” Auta said.

With the N2 billion allocated to health in 2021, it is unclear how the Nasarawa State government deploys resources in addressing health challenges considering the huge decay in healthcare across the state.

Although MAWA Foundation could not immediately reach out to the Nasarawa State government for an official response, a Senior State health official who spoke to us via a telephone conversation from Keffi, one of the largest Local Government Areas in the state that is 56 kilometres away from Abuja and wants his identity concealed, described hospitals in the state as grossly deplorable.

A situation he blamed on huge corruption that takes place among the top government official charged with the responsibility of deploying resources meant for the health sector.

“As an insider and a senior government health official, I can tell you there is a huge corruption in the way monies meant for healthcare by the Nasarawa state government is managed,” the official told MAWA.