Equipment rot as Gui PHC remains uncompleted

Multi-million naira medical equipment procured for the Comprehensive Primary Healthcare Centre in Gui have continued to deteriorate as the clinic’s structures remain uncompleted nine years after work on it started. The building, which is at lintel stage, has now been converted into a place for open defecation while some portions have been overgrown with grasses.  […]

Multi-million naira medical equipment procured for the Comprehensive Primary Healthcare Centre in Gui have continued to deteriorate as the clinic’s structures remain uncompleted nine years after work on it started.

The building, which is at lintel stage, has now been converted into a place for open defecation while some portions have been overgrown with grasses. 

The community is now left with a dilapidated structure with cracked walls and weakened concrete. 

While the health facility remains uncompleted, equipment meant for the centre have been procured and kept in a room at the temporary primary healthcare centre used by the residents. 

The poorly ventilated and lighted room has several beds, electrical equipment, scales and other measuring devices stacked in it. 

A community health worker, who sought anonymity, said some of the facilities must have been damaged due to poor handling during the renovation of the temporary healthcare centre and the many years of laying unused. 

While the building rots away, residents travel long distances to access healthcare. The temporary primary healthcare centre in the community could not stop the residents because it is short-staffed, poorly funded and lacks some amenities. 

The community, about 10 minutes’ drive from the airport road after Sauka, despite its swelling population, has one health worker at the centre who residents said was hardly around on weekends and closed at about 4pm on week days. 

Yamush Zephaniah said the uncompleted building has been unattended since he was posted to the centre few years ago. 

“I have no idea why it has not been completed but all the required equipment needed for the hospital had been here for a very long time,” he said.

He said the equipment were packed but could not say if they are still functional. 

Zephaniah said the temporary healthcare centre used by the residents was recently renovated and the government had assured on revisiting the abandoned project.  

Despite the facelift, he said residents still patronised medicine stores and private hospitals in neighbouring communities. He said the renovated centre did little in encouraging the residents to patronise the centre. 

He said despite his effort in making payment cheap and friendly, women in the community prefer delivering at home and using herbs. He said it was surprising why residents would prefer hospitals in other communities and even spend more accessing such centres instead of using that provided them. 

He said the poor patronage may, however not be unconnected to the challenges of the centre because despite the renovation, it is without adequate provision for man power. 

As the only health worker at the centre, he said, he sleeps in the facility and went home in Kwali on weekends. He said government had failed to employ a volunteer health worker that resides in the community and usually oversaw it in his absence.  Zephaniah said he leaves the centre on weekends as there was usually no patients that patronised the facility. He said not more than 20 people have visited the centre in the past two months as such he might stay and not have anybody to attend to. 

“Last month, only two women came for antenatal,” he said.

The situation of the abandoned health facility is also disturbing to the District Head, Chief Alhassan Yusuf. He said residents do not patronise the temporary centre because it is short staffed and lacked some facilities. 

He said the only personnel working there is not always available from Fridays to Sundays. He said the situation must have forced residents to patronise privately owned hospitals in the neighbouring communities. 

On the uncompleted structure, he said, “Some government officials said the project would be captured in next year’s budget. I have done all I could to ensure it is completed, I sometimes invite many senators to the community to see the project and fast track its completion, yet nothing has happened.”

He however said the community would not give up because the equipment for the yet to be completed health facility have been provided. 

“I once had to stop some government officials from moving the equipment elsewhere,” he said adding that it might be unaccounted for as the case of the ambulance for the project. 

Chief Alhassan said when completed, the health facility would liberate residents and people from several communities from medical tourism to distant places. 

He said he had, however been encouraging residents to visit the newly renovated healthcare centre instead of going to other communities. He said such messages are relayed to the residents during Juma’at services and in churches and there has been improvement. 

The chief also said the community lacks good roads and schools. He said the deplorable roads affect farmers while taking their produce to the market. He said students do not attend school when it rains in the morning because the road would be impassable while they are always in dilemma when rain falls while they are in school.

He said the roads are usually flooded and difficult to ply while not every parent could afford paying commercial motorcyclists to take their children to school. 

He said even if the road is rehabilitated, establishing a secondary school in the community would help in solving their education problems.