Fatima Muhammad, a 40-year-old mother of eight, recalled the night she pleaded with staff to keep the Shango Primary Health Care (PHC) facility open past closing hours, “my daughter collapsed, I had to beg them to stay open.”
The narrowly escaped tragedy echoes the desperation of a community battling a crumbling healthcare system. With no beds, no light, and no hope, residents face a daily struggle for healthcare.
Shango PHC, a Level 1 health facility, serves 15 to 20 patients daily, including residents of nearby villages and students at Niger State College of Education. Despite being a level 1 PHC, it does not meet the basic requirements based on the minimum service provision, which include a minimum of 5 rooms to serve as units, availability of potable water, essential drugs, and functioning equipment. The facility also lacks access to the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF).
Communities as far as 2 kilometres away, with some recently connected by a bridge, depend on this overstretched facility. Pregnant women often walk long distances only to find the health facility closed by 2 p.m., even on weekends. The absence of a 24-hour service puts lives at constant risk.
Rabiatu Abdulƙadir, the women’s leader, lamented that, “I came for a blood pressure check, but there was no apparatus. During an emergency at night, we cannot bring our children or pregnant women here because we will not meet anyone, since we are not mobile to go farther to access care.”
Garba Galadima, a community leader who lost his sister and her baby due to delayed care, noted that, “she was in labour late at night and before we could get a vehicle to the health facility, we lost her. This would not have happened if this health facility is expanded to provide round-the-clock services,” Galadima said.
Jummai M. Abubakar, head of the PHC, corroborated the crisis. “We need government support to function,” she said, pointing to the lack of BHCPF funding, erratic power, and limited staff as core challenges. Without lab services, overnight care, or steady electricity, outcomes for patients remain bleak.
Shango’s plight reflects the gaps in that goals of the Nigeria Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative (2023–2026) aims to ensure efficient, equitable, and quality health systems through the second pillar. Without investment in infrastructure, staffing, and equipment, communities like this will continue to fall through the cracks.
The community are hereby calling on the policymakers and concerned authorities to:
- Expand the health facility to a level 2 PHC with different units and wards, providing round-the-clock services
- Provide essential drugs and equipment in the health facility
- Install solar power and access to clean water
- Introduce basic laboratory services for diagnosis
“Healthcare should not end at 2 p.m,” Garba Galadima said, “our lives do not stop, then neither should the PHC.”