At a primary healthcare centre in Maitumbi, Niger State, women give birth on the floor, rain pours on patients through leaking roofs, and a fire-damaged section has remained untouched for years, despite being a designated Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) facility.
Maitumbi’s UBE PHC is a Level 2 facility that sees around 20 patients daily for immunisation, family planning, and maternal care. It serves multiple nearby communities, with pregnant women often trekking up to 2 kilometres as some are unable to afford even basic transport.
While the facility is relatively closer than other PHCs, its crumbling infrastructure severely limits the quality and dignity of care. “They attended to me in a friendly manner, and I delivered successfully,” Rukayya Halidu, 27, shared, grateful for the staff’s professionalism, but traumatised by the cramped, single-bed labour room forcing multiple women together.
Jummai Musa Umar, the facility’s officer-in-charge, confirmed the desperate gap, “just yesterday, we had to admit and attend to a pregnant woman on the floor due to lack of beds.”
For 51-year-old Aisha Gariba, rain leaking through the roof added to the suffering when she sought care. “The roof leaks when it rains and wets the floor inside the facility. I witnessed this when my son was admitted at the facility, and I must say that it was not convenient at all”.
. “The state of the facility is very poor,” The facility head, Jummai Musa Umar, lamented. She points out that BHCPF funds meant for essential medicines are diverted for stopgap repairs. Water access depends on a manual well, and essential equipment is lacking. Mamman Mina Ibrahim, Secretary of the Ward Development Committee, also added that, “we self-fund minor repairs, but the fire-damaged section and broken solar system are beyond us. Government support is urgently needed.”
The inability to provide safe and dignified care due to overcrowding, lack of basic infrastructure, and resource diversion has direct implications on maternal and child health outcomes, especially during high-malaria seasons. The facility’s challenges reveal the limitations of current BHCPF allocations and the widening gap between healthcare goals and realities. The Nigeria Health Sector Renewal Plan (2023–2027) highlights, as its core pillar, efficient, equitable, and quality health service delivery for its citizens. UBE PHC’s condition falls short of these goals, therefore, it underpins the need for urgent structural and systemic interventions.
The community are hereby calling on the government as well as all relevant stakeholders to:
- Fund the complete renovations of the health facility, including the roof and fire-damaged areas.
- Provide toilet facilities, a water pumping system, solar repairs, beds, and mattresses.
- Increase BHCPF allocations to restore essential drug availability.
“Primary healthcare must begin with dignity,” Ibrahim reiterated. “Until this facility is fixed, we’re simply not protecting lives.”