Gombe communities groan over incessant death of pregnant women, snake bite

There are seven communities located behind a mountain in Shongom Local Government Area of Gombe State that can best described as forgotten communities in the state. The occupants of these communities felt forgotten because government has failed to address two major problems facing them for many years. The problems are frequent death of pregnant women […]

There are seven communities located behind a mountain in Shongom Local Government Area of Gombe State that can best described as forgotten communities in the state. The occupants of these communities felt forgotten because government has failed to address two major problems facing them for many years.
The problems are frequent death of pregnant women and uncontrolled snake bite. They alleged that they are facing some difficulties in taking pregnant women to hospital for ante-natal and during labor, thereby leading to death of many pregnant women in the affected communities. They also said that many lives have been lost in the communities courtesy of incessant snake bite.
 observed that the mountain where the communities located stretches from Plateau state passes through Gombe to Taraba state. In addition to these two major problems, the communities also lacked portable drinking water and other basic social amenities.
Our reporter observed that because of lack of accessible roads, people
of the communities have to spend several hours before they could take patients or pregnant women to the main road where they usually get commercial vehicle that would convey them to hospital.
More often than not, the patients are carried inside a local casket like a dead body to the main road for onward conveyance to hospital in Kaltungo local government area of the state.
A resident of Galdimaru, Saleh Galadiman Galdimaru said most of the schools in the area lacked teaching materials like chairs and desks.
He added that even the quality of the structures was terribly poor.
“We normally use wood to make temporary seats for our children in their schools while in some schools they sit on the floor to learn,” he lamented.
A community leader in Burak Gundak, Muhammad Garba said roads were their major problem in the area, noting that “even if government intends to drill boreholes there are no roads where heavy equipment can get to the village and drill boreholes for the occupants.”
Mr. Jonathan Jibir is the chairman Galdimaru Community Association. He told Kano Chronicle that they have been battling with the problems for decades, adding that, “every day three people might be bitten by snakes. We have snakes in our homes, in our farms and everywhere around the rocks.”
A one-time commissioner of Women Affairs in the state, Hajiya Sa’adatu Sa’ad Mustapha said pregnant women and children suffered most due to inaccessible roads in the area. She also said a maternity hospital was constructed in the community by the state government through
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) but it was empty as facilities have not been provided to the hospital.
She said reports have indicated that the number of pregnant women and children who lost their lives was greater than those who survived.
However, the plights of these communities will soon be thing of the past, as the Mai Kaltungo, Engineer Saleh Mohammed embarked on a project tagged ‘battle for survival’ with a view to bringing succor to the affected communities.
The project is to create access roads for Galdimaru and Nyalumi communities which are the largest among the mountain settlements. This will apart from reducing their sufferings, also draw the attention of the government to come to the aid of these isolated communities by providing them with basic amenities.
Engineer Saleh, who actively participated in the communal works of digging and removing rocks recently, said the distance of the communities from Kaltungo was only 23 kilometers but it will take motorists hours before getting there due to the terrible condition of the road.
He said: “Some drivers preferred going to these communities through Taraba state which is also over 8 hours. Communities of Kaltungo and Shongom Local Government Areas are really suffering.”
Engineer Saleh said because of the constant communal work within one year they were able to have access road for motor cycles.
He said state government had constructed a 200 bed maternity hospital in Galdimaru which was not operational and therefore advised the government to equip the hospital to reduce the hardship of the people.
District Head of Kushi, Alhaji Ali Sarkin Burat said Mai Kaltungo had provided all that is needed for the communal project in the area. Chairman of Shongom Local Government, who was present during the communal project, Dr Timothy Daniel, said the state government and the council were disturbed with the pathetic condition of the communities and they were working hard to reduced their hardship.
The chairman said Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo had approved eight projects on the provision of boreholes to the communities in Galdimaru and Nyalume and the approvals were at the state ministry of rural development.
He promised continued support of the council to the communities despite its lean internally generated revenue.