By Tina George
The Mokwa General Hospital is one of the oldest and largest general hospitals in Niger state but the hospital has since been neglected by the government as the equipment and infrastructure in the hospital have become dilapidated.
A visit to the hospital in the second week of August showed several wards have been locked up while others totally abandoned with broken beds and floors, falling ceilings and non-functional equipment.
The female wards where female patients should be admitted lay in total abandon with broken beds and falling ceilings, this development has made the hospital management keep any female patient in the only male ward that still has some beds and the ceilings are still intact.
The male and female patients are currently sharing one ward. During the visit to the hospital, the reporter observed that there were three males and one female in the ward.
One of the Staff who prefers to remain anonymous told the reporter, “Whoever is meant to be admitted in the female ward will join them at the male ward because apart from it being broken down, there is no staff to manage the place.
“The female ward was so dilapidated that if it starts to rain, we will have to pack the whole patients to one side, after the rain stops, we now sweep the water and arrange the beds again but we got tired of doing it, that’s why we moved theme to the male ward. There is no staff, we have appealed to the government but they pay no heed to us. People come here every day for treatment but no manpower, no equipment and there is massive dilapidation of the building. We are just doing the best we can as we can.”
The Mokwa General Hospital is in Mokwa, the headquarters of Mokwa local government area. The town is the fifth biggest in Niger state and its location is very strategic, it is the gateway between the southern and northern parts of Nigeria.
Mokwa General Hospital was established in 1986 and is said to be one of the biggest hospitals in Niger state. Unfortunately, the hospital is in a deplorable state with a dearth of medical personnel, equipment and dilapidated structures.
Inadequate Staff, Leaking Roofs
In the ward fashioned for males and females, the reporter met some patients with their relatives who have been staying with them and complained that the doctors only came in the morning and since then, not even a nurse has checked them to see how the patients are feeling.
One of the relatives who identified himself as Mallam Muktar said that he brought his brother from Mokwa town saying, “When we brought my brother to the hospital, they only gave him two drips, no drugs, and even no injection. In short, they sent us out this morning saying we are too much for the patient, but since they gave him the two drips no one showed up again”
Muktar said that they paid N12,000 for the drips but lamented that the services they have received do not commensurate with the amount spent.
In the pediatric ward, five children and their families were in the ward and they all said that the last time they saw a doctor was the day before as no doctor have been to the ward to see them on the day the reporter visited the hospital.
The pediatric was very hot and humid with no ventilation, and there was no electricity and the parents had to use either paper or plastic fans to blow their children who were feeling the heat.
A visit to the operating theatre showed some equipment that is no longer in use and it was learnt from a staff who showed the reporter around that there is often no electricity to power most of the equipment in the operating room which makes it to be left alone for a long time.
The Pharmacy department and the Laboratory showed no difference as the leaking ceiling was evident. One of the Pharmacists the reporter met said that most often, during heavy rainfall, the rain drops on the drugs and gets it soaked thereby rendering the drugs useless.
“The store is leaking seriously. This is where we keep the drugs. If it is leaking, the drugs get soaked and are destroyed. There are enough drugs for the patients, but the AC and stabilizer are not working and the drugs are either destroyed by rain or unstable temperature”, he said.
For the Laboratory, the Laboratory attendant said that the lab is using solar to enable it to carry out tests for the patients adding that the solar energy was not provided by the government or the hospital management but by an organization.
For the mortuary, it was locked when the reporter visited as she was told that it has been locked up for over a year due to the failure of some of the refrigerators where the corpses are kept and the unavailability of electricity to power the morgue.
Residents express displeasure over the government’s inability to renovate the hospital
The Traditional Ruler of Mokwa, Alhaji Mohammed Shaba lamented that he is tired of begging the government to renovate and rehabilitate the Mokwa General Hospital saying that the state of the hospital is a sorry one as people avoid going there despite the size and the services it is supposed to offer.
“Every government that has come into power in the state, I have been to them personally to beg them to renovate the General Hospital. Only individuals are helping us now. The new building that is seen before you enter the hospital was done by one of our own who is a director of legal services of the federal ministry of works, he singlehandedly brought the project to the local government. The building has every equipment needed for the center is surplus. That is from one of us.
“For the general hospital, if it was rainy, the concrete ceiling will be leaking water because those concretes have been there for a long time. Both the staff and equipment are not enough. The old nurses that have been helping us, the government will just come and take them away without replacing them.
“Most of the works done there are done by the casuals, only God is helping us. No nurses, no attendants, and the doctors are being transferred out. Right now, there are only three doctors working in the hospital and they are trying their best, it is not easy for them. But in Mokwa, nobody wants to go there now because of the dilapidation of the building”, he said.
One of the youths Leader, Adamu Mokwa said that although the new maternity ward has been completed, it is still not in use despite that the keys have been handed over to the Chief Medical Director of the hospital. He added that if it becomes functional, it would reduce the level of maternal and child mortality being experienced in the hospital.
A resident, Mohammed Umar described the state of the Mokwa General Hospital as pathetic saying that as youths, they have made several moves to get the government to address the deplorable conditions of the Mokwa hospital but to no avail.
“It is a pity that this is happening in the local government where the Deputy Governor, Alhaji Ahmed Ketso comes from. The hospital is understaffed and the structures are dilapidated. When it is rainy, most of the roofs in the wards are leaking. For almost 15 years, any nurses that are transferred out won’t be replaced, the same with the doctors.
“This hospital is very important because mokwa is located in truck A road, so most accidents along the Bida-Mokwa-Jebba road are brought down here. Most often, if people die in an accident, there is no place to keep them because the mortuary is not working as the refrigerators are all spoilt.
Another resident, Mohammed Kudu Hassan lamented that the hospital had been turned into an expressway for motorcycles and cars to ply without any hindrance due to the absence of perimeter fencing. He said that they have tried to advise the management to get some paramilitary officers to stop people from using the hospital as a route but the management claimed there is no money to give to wherever would be called.
