SOURCE: NigeriaHealthWatch
Yar Gaya Primary Health Centre (PHC) is a health facility in Yar Gaya community in Dawakin Kudu Local Government Area (LGA) of Kano State. Established 42 years ago, the PHC is plagued by so many challenges that it now only provides skeletal services, leaving community members with no option but to travel long distances in search of suitable alternatives.
The antenatal care (ANC) provider at the facility, Fauziya Umar Farouq said the PHC has no labour room, complicating challenges pregnant women in the community face when giving birth. We provide antenatal care here, but we don't have a labour room to enable us deliver women of their babies when they are due", she said, adding that even their ANC guidance and counselling lecture is held in the facility’s small reception room due to the unavailability of space.
Ado Jibril, also a staff of the facility, is unhappy about their inability to meet the health needs of the community members. "The issue we have is we don't have enough amenities to offer the services we should, so for now, we only check patients and carry out Rapid Diagnostic Tes (RDT). For other tests, because we don't have a laboratory, we have to refer patients to other hospitals, and this has caused many patients to avoid coming to the facility."
Huzaifa Tahir, one of the few community members who still uses the PHC, said he is almost 30 years old and as far as he knows, the health facility has never been refurbished or upgraded, which explains its poor state and inability to meet the health needs of the growing community. Things are however not all bad at the PHC as Jibril pointed out that the facility has continued to be a beneficiary of the Drug Revolving Fund in Kano state. As a result, they never lack some essential drugs which enables them provide medications at subsidised prices for the community members.
While we commend the efforts of the officials of Dawakin Kudu LGA and the Kano State government for the ensuring that the Drug Revolving Fund is active, it is not enough. The people of Yar Gaya community deserve a health facility that is equipped enough to meet all their healthcare needs. Women deserve to give birth safely and in dignity and health workers deserve to have all the necessary equipment at their disposal. The people of Yar Gaya Community are specifically asking for the following:
- 1. Rehabilitate and refurbish Yar Gaya PHC to ensure that it is up to standard as required by government.
- 2. Build a well-equipped labour room in Yar Gaya PHC to enable women deliver safely at the health facility.
- 3. Build a well-equipped laboratory at the PHC.
- 4. Expand the PHC to have more room for conducting ANC talks and other relevant activities.