By; Mohammed Kawu, Bauchi.
Residents of Zaki Local Government Area in Bauchi State have lamented over the non-completion of the abandoned new General Hospital project in Katagum, headquarters of the council area that has defied past successful governments in the state.
The dilapidated state of the Hospital has subjected patients and their relations to untold hardships especially on issues relating to healthcare services.
The decayed and blown off roofs in some wards, cracks in the building and lack of aired windows in the old but dilapidated hospital in Katagum exposes patients to different kinds of hazards.
Women in female wards who came from far to access medical treatment told health reporters that every night those who put to bed or having toddlers are, while putting their babies to sleep,
advised to stuff cotton buds into their babies’ ears.
This, according to one of the patients interviewed, is to keep cockroaches and creeping insects from crawling onto them as most patients sleep with their mattresses or mat on ordinary floor of the old hospital.
Malama Hadiza Sa’idu, mother of one year old boy told newsmen that the completion of the abandoned new hospital project when put to use will have great impact on the lives of ordinary people in the area.
She lamented that the exposure and hazard of the weather in the dilapidated old hospital add to the patients’ problems, in addition to improper treatment they do get from some of the staff in the institution.
While it is on record that previous governments in the state made frantic efforts to build and complete the new General Hospital in the area, the immediate past Yuguda administration budgeted N45 million for the completion of the new General Hospital project in Zaki in the approved 2015 budget.
However that government fell short due to change of baton that usher in the present administration of Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar who revised the 2015 budget estimates and did not allocate even a dime to the completion of the General Hospital project, and not even in the 2016 proposed budget.
Many analysts are of the opinion that Governor Mohammed Abubakar still habour malice with people from that area as his opponent in People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in 2015 elections, Mohammed Awwal Jatau hailed from the area.
A health worker in the hospital who spoke on condition of anonymity described the situation as pathetic, stressing that most Doctors and personnel being posted to the area often seek transfer or left for greener pasture.
Questions on the lips of people include why play with the health of the people? Is the APC Governor punishing them? Why won’t he bury the hatchet and embrace all as his own? Is it that Governor Mohammed Abubakar is paying them back in their own coins?
