Inside Niger’s Leprosy Colony

Lami Yuhana sat in the veranda of the two room mud structure, at the Kompani Kutare, staring at an object only she could see. She was jolted from her reverie by salutations from the unexpected guests who had entered her compound before she realized that they were present. She staggered from her sitting position with […]

Lami Yuhana sat in the veranda of the two room mud structure, at the Kompani Kutare, staring at an object only she could see. She was jolted from her reverie by salutations from the unexpected guests who had entered her compound before she realized that they were present. She staggered from her sitting position with visible effort, revealing an artificial right limb, in place of what used to be her right leg but which is now deformed by Leprosy.

 

 But it was her husband’s condition that aptly reflects the many evidences of life-changing deformities that the  disease could have on an individual. From behind the curtain of one of the rooms, a male voice seeks to know what was going on in his compound. Yuhana Katapo crawled from behind the curtain to the veranda on his buttock. His eyes were shut, even as all his toes are missing, while the hands are a twisted mass of flesh, with pale white patches dotting part of his face. 

 

 

From his account of the many decades battle with what was hitherto referred to as the “strange disease” across Africa in the 60s, Katapo is one patient who could tell the story of its many ravages overtime. And he does that with photographic clarity through a sequence tied in unity and cohesion. 

 

 

He is 86 years old but got admitted at the Leprosy Referral hospital at the age 17 following an infection, which later turned into sickening blisters. That was some 69 years ago when the hospital was at its embryonic  stage having been built by Christian Missionaries in 1940. 

 

 

He was patient number 150 to be registered in the facility tucked in the middle of nowhere on the outskirts of Minna town, off Suleja road. He spent one and a half years there before he was discharged, only to return a year later to the facility as new symptoms emerged. 

 

 

With a teacher’s training certificate it was easy for Katapo to get  a temporary job in the then Beji district where he hailed from, as a registration officer for the then Northern Peoples Congress (NPC). But he still had to return to the facility again after the election, but this time, the Missionary gave him  a job as a livestock officer in charge of the piggery, poultry and rabbits. 

 

 

He was to join the mainstream health staff of the hospital after learning the basic rudiments of wound dressing from where an elevation beckoned three months later as theater attendant ,before the Missionaries exited the scene. Even when the North West government took over in 1975 and later, Niger state government in 1976, Katapo’s many years of experiences were still handy until his eventual disengagement by the then Colonel David Mark’s administration in 1984. 

 

 

But in between those periods, which he referred to as his “glorious days” his health further deteriorated resulting in severe deformities and eventual loss of both eyes. The situation was compound by a bicycle accident in 1999. Katapo’s condition is what health experts referred to as grade 2 disability deferring all interventions. 

 

 

For him assistive devices like artificial limbs are now useless with the eventual loss of the digit of the legs and consequent cracks, giving rooms for opportunistic infections. Then chronic ulcers emerged, a deep wound, which festers overtime and resulting in amputation later in life. Both hands were to suffer the same fate, resulting in clogs and cracks with the fingers disappearing. Today, Katapo could only move around the premises on a wheel chair with someone else pushing. 

 

With such condition, he had to find a permanent abode away from Beji, his country home .And with 80 others brought about by similar fate and forsaken by relatives, founded Kompani Kutare, a Lepers’ Colony close to the Referral Hospital some decades ago.

 

Today, the village of about 50 households mostly made of thatched mud huts still stands when Daily Trust visited the hospital penultimate Wednesday with Katapo as the natural head. As the Mai Angwa of the community, Katapo led the motley crowd that assembled at the makeshift all-zinced hall at the instance of the Senator Representing Niger East Senatorial district, Barrister David Umaru. But the atmosphere in the hall was devoid of enthusiasm that normally greets such gathering. At least not until the Senator’s vehicles bearing the gifts for the residents offloaded its contents , which included wheel chairs and food items with cash later exchanging hands. 

 

 

Tales of sorrow and abandonment followed the Senator’s brief comment of the reason behind the visit. It was a common lamentation; no governor or elected representative has ever visited the colony or the Referral hospital to identify with them. They have been surviving through their own devices and occasional interventions by public-spirited non-governmental organizations. 

 

 

Even the hospital, which is part of government property has not fared any better. The two wards facility has never undergone renovation by successive government in the state since the Missionaries exited the scene. If not for the intervention by The Leprosy Mission and TY Foundation, the facility would have since become history. Even the few infrastructures and social amenities the facility now boasts of, were the handiwork of the same Leprosy Mission. The water supply system through boreholes, the only existing primary school, which now played host to pupils from several communities outside the colony were provided by the TLM. 

 

 

Successive administrations in the state look the other way despite the threat posed by the disease as the existing facility which handles such treatment suffer neglect. Health experts were unanimous that the “strange disease” has become a serious health problem with rising active transmission. About 249,000 new cases were said to have been discovered in Africa in 2008 alone, while Nigeria recorded 3,805 in 2012. The figure has been rising steadily. 

 

In Niger, the ministry of health through the Tuberculosis/Leprosy control office,put the statistic of fresh cases on admission in its health facilities in 2015 at 147, while those of the first and second quarters of 2016 were 92, even as it awaits the figure for the last quarter.

 

 TLM warned that Nigeria now has a scourge to deal with and “we must try as much as possible to stop the spread”. But presently the reduction rate is quite low, despite the fact the disease is treatable and drugs are free.  

 

 

In both wards of the referral hospital, several patients suffering from grade 0 to two of the disease are on admission. Nine of them were in the male ward when our correspondent visited the facility including Sarkin Kutare, Suleja, Malam Musa Jibrin. Most of them have grade 2 disability and either move around wheel chair or with the aid of artificial limbs. 

 

 

At the female ward, Asmau Garba, 43 from Katsina state and Hynau Ibrahim from Guni, Zamfara state have their limbs amputated above the knees. They would have to cope with the aid of artificial limbs for life. Asmau’s case is more pathetic with no child and husband nearby to console her. “I don’t have a child of my own,” she told Daily Trust with tears forming around both eyes. But the more touching part of her story was the fact that her husband of many years deserted her during the troubling moments. The letter bearing the divorce news was delivered at the hospital, she revealed amidst tears. She has tried in vain to resign to fate as the reality of having to cater for herself all alone stared her in the face with each passing day. 

 

 

Three beds away, 42 year-old Aisha Ibrahim smiles for the camera as she cuddles 10 year old  Ainau and Abdulrahaman, 8. Hers was a grade 0 case with white patches around part of her face, which some doses of antibiotic could help eliminate, but prolonged contact with both children has exposed them to the disease. The duo also bore signs of infection in the form of white patches and are also on medication at the facility like their mother. 

 

 

Like the inhabitants of the colony a meter way, the patients also require interventions from the state government in the area of feeding and drugs ,as well as basic infrastructure that would make the facility habitable. But the food has been inadequate, while drugs outside the main Leprosy treatment have to be prescribed, and the patients made to buy them. 

 

 

Daily Trust learnt that the contractor supplying food to the facility has stopped doing so because of indebtedness by the state government. The authority was said to be owing the food supplier N3 million following which government resorts to releasing a paltry 100,000 monthly to the centre for patients’ feeding. The Sarkin Kutare, Malam Jibrin said this was grossly inadequate. 

 

 

Like the food supply chain, the hospital’s basic amenities have collapsed with the vandalisation of the cable supplying electricity by hoodlums. Our correspondent noticed that the facility is even prone to robbery in the first place with no fence  to secure it and with the vandalism the centre could no longer pump water for  use by  the patients. The problem is compounded by the fact that the standby generator has packed up. 

 

 

Accessing the facility in the dry and rainy season was also difficult as the untarred road has not been graded for the past 20 years, until about two weeks when the news of an impending visit by Governor Abubakar Sani Bello filtered in. The centre’s management hurriedly raised funds  to make the road passable ,but the expected visit is yet to take place. 

 

 

There was some cheering news though as the facility now boasts  of  a new theatre constructed by the TLM which has  state of the art facilities. TLM’s intervention, according to its Operations Manager, Pius Ogbu Sunday, covers three areas-leprosy control, prevention of impairment and socio-economic development. The control support focuses on finding and managing leprosy cases in hospitals, which also includes  that essential drugs are available for patients. It also provides assistive and protective devices like molded shoes, wheel chairs and artificial limbs among others, for the use of patients with grade 2 deformities. 

 

TLM’s operations manager agreed that the facility depends completely on donors, stressing that there is no sustainability plan on the part of the governments. But it appears help may soon come the way of the hospital, with the state government taking interest ,and looking into the plight of the patients and inhabitants of the colony. Ibrahim Ndatsu, a deputy director and the officer in charge of the facility said the commissioner of health, Dr. Mustapha Jibril has paid an assessment visit to the facility. “We are optimistic because this is a rare visit by such a top government official for a long time,” he said.