Pregnant Women Decry Termite-Infested Health Centre, Knock Ogun

Some pregnant women as well as other residents of Agada community in the Ipokia Local Government Area of Ogun State have kicked against the state of their hospitals.

They decried the state of the health centre in the community.

They lamented that the condition of the health centre made access to good health care services almost impossible for them.

They complained that many pregnant women resorted to trado-medical treatment due to non-availability of health workers and facilities.

When PUNCH Metro visited the facility, it was discovered that the compound of the centre was bushy, as the building was near collapse.

The windows were broken and the iron beds rusty and termite-infested.

Our correspondent also observed that the labour room was unkempt.

The only nurse on duty, who did not mention her name for security reasons, said pregnant women still trooped in and out of the hospital despite its poor condition.

The nurse said about five pregnant women were delivered of babies at the facility in October.

But the residents lamented that the hospital had become a death-trap for patients.

Some pregnant women, who spoke to our correspondent, said they went through pain while accessing health care in the community.

A pregnant woman, Ewaade Jamiu, said she resorted to other means of getting health care after she suffered complications at the health centre during her last birth.

She lamented that the hospital did not have the facilities to take care of sick children or pregnant women.

She said, “That hospital has become a nightmare for us because of its poor condition. I can never go there again because of what I went through the last time. I had complications and I almost lost the child.

“You can imagine; if you rushed pregnant women there at midnight, there will not be anybody to attend to them. They don’t have enough health workers and this hospital needs to be rehabilitated.”

Another pregnant woman, Shukurat Adelani, said she gave birth to her two children at the centre.

She, however, said she did not sleep at the facility because of its poor condition.

“I gave birth to my two children at this hospital and that’s because I don’t have choice.

“But I have never slept there; I used to leave after giving birth due to the poor condition of the hospital. How can you expect me to sleep on that kind of bed?” she added.

A community leader, Nurudeen Laoye, said efforts to get the attention of the government to rehabilitate the centre had not been successful.

He said, “Maybe because this place is far from town; we have been abandoned and government is not ready to come to our aid despite making several calls.

“That hospital has been like that for over 10 years and nothing was done by the government to improve on it. Our pregnant women have been giving birth in one of the worst conditions because the environment is not clean and healthy.

“If we say we want to patronise private hospitals, the location is far. It will take us about one hour to get there on bikes because the road to our community is not motorable. You can imagine putting a pregnant woman on a motorcycle for an hour during labour; I am sure she may not live to tell the story. We want the government to come to our aid and give us a better health centre in Agada community.”

A medical doctor, Tunde Adewale, who saw pictures of the health centre, said the facility was unhygienic for pregnant women.

He said, “With this kind of environment, there can be serious complications during labour and this can also affect the child. You can imagine taking a newborn out in an environment that is full of mosquitoes, surrounded by bushes and not fumigated.

“Government needs to either close this place or rehabilitate it and provide the needed facilities for it to operate effectively.”

When contacted, the Ogun State Commissioner for Health, Tomi Coker, said the government was renovating and equipping 235 primary health centres in the state in phases.

She said, “The government is committed to renovating and equipping 236 primary healthcare centres, one per ward in the 20 LGA. We are doing them in phases, hence some have yet to be done. We have recruited over 50 midwives and 40 doctors in the last six months.”