ARTV Clinic: A quintessence of corporate social responsibility

It is crucial to create values that contribute to society where one operates. This is a way of giving back to the society and it also attracts more confidence on the part of the public and earns competitive advantage for the company or organization.

Abubakar Rimi Television (ARTV) Clinic was initially established to cater for the first-aid medical needs of the members of staff and perhaps their families, but shortly after its establishment, the Director General of the station, Hajiya Sa’a Ibrahim, saw the need to extend the services of the clinic to the general public as a way of saying “Thank You” for their support over the years.

Barely 20 months of its existence, records at the registry showed that the clinic has witnessed an influx of over 20,000 patients from neighbouring communities. That is an average of 1,000 patients per months, and this is for the 5-days a week it renders its services.

Most of these people come from neighbouring communities like Tarauni, Faraway, Unguwa Uku, Hotoro, Mariri and Tinshama, among others.

Malam Umaru Adamu lives in Waluwai area of Hotoro. He was having fever and came to ARTV clinic for treatment.

“I was given an injection and as you can see I have a drip on and I thank God that I am feeling really better, and I am told that I would soon be discharged,” he said.

Malam Adamu said it was also cheaper compared to what obtains in other clinics and he was impressed by the friendly manner with which he was treated.

Aisha Ya’u is also from Hotoro Danmarke. She is a regular visitor to the clinic. She said she got to know about the clinic through watching ARTV and she visited a number of times because of its closeness, affordability and the professional touch of its staff.

“It is closer to us and it is affordable. Before now, we have to go to Tsamiyar Boka for medical attention. We hope they will expand it especially by providing a maternity section for pregnant women,” Mrs Ya’u has said.

Hauwa Muhammad was there for the first time. She took her 3-year-old boy with stomach pain, cold and fever. She told Chronicles that she heard about the clinic and how affordable it is.

“I came from Mariri and this is my first time in this hospital. I heard about it from some people and they told me how affordable is that is the reason I brought my child here. They have conducted some tests and we are waiting for the results and from what I have seen so far, it is really affordable,” she said.

Another woman, Aisha Haruna, came from Unguwar Madaki, with her daughter, Fatima,who is suffering from malaria and headache. She said she got to know about the clinic from her daughter and she told her that it is cheap compared to other hospitals.

“They gave us the malaria drugs free of charge and we are grateful to them,” She said.

Hajiya Sa’a Ibrahim, the director general of ARTV, explained the idea of establishing the clinic was borne out of the interest she has in the idea of organizations having their own health facilities in their premises.

She said, “I have noticed in some of the places of work that I visited that they have their clinics and that usually impresses me. But I have long forgotten about it until when I was sitting in my office and someone rushed in to tell me that a youth corps member who was serving here was in a serious state of stomach pain and needed medical attention.

“We rushed to her and met her crying and rolling on the floor, but unfortunately there wasn’t even a first-aid box in the premises at that time to help the girl. Then it suddenly occurred to me that we really needed to do something and  that was when the idea of having something like a health facility came back to my mind and since then I was determined to provide something that would help the people working in the premises because ARTV is far away from any of the medical facilities in the city.”

The DG then set up a committee that would advise her on how to go about the idea, and they came up with the idea of the clinic, though initially the proposal was for a staff clinic that would cater for the company’s staff who run shifts.  So, after the clinic was set up she felt that the company needed to give back to the community surrounding ARTV.

The ARTV has been in existence for almost 36 years and the community surrounding the station should benefit from anything good that comes out of the company. She put the idea to the management who approved it.

As a way of giving a sense of involvement and participation, the management met with the elders and leaders of the communities to intimate them about the idea, “and their happiness and delight could not even be described or imagined”.

The clinic  has two consulting rooms, a pharmacy, Out Patient Department (OPD) and two sick bays with six beds used to admit patients.

However, patients are referred to a secondary health facility if they are to stay for more than six hours at the clinic.

 Other services provided by the clinic include ante-natal care, which is twice a week; Direct Observe Treatment (DOT) centre where tuberculosis patients collect drugs; male child circumcision as well as birth registration for children below the age of five.

The clinic has partnered with some health organizations like the Drug Management Agency in Kano where they are into the Drug Revolving Fund Scheme while the World Bank has listed the clinic among health facilities that receive malaria drugs which is given free to patients.

Apart from these two partnerships, the main source of funding for the clinic comes from the company, though government, through primary healthcare agency, has provided some medical personnel to the clinic.

The clinic is yet to receive support from individuals or organisations but that notwithstanding, the DG said she was determined to expand the services at the clinic to accommodate more people.

Hajiya Sa’a Ibrahim’s other hope is to have a separate building facility for a new clinic in the future that will admit patients for observations and treatments, and also provide round the clock services for patients.