Healthcare must be accessible, and like every Primary Health Centre, Gada Yan Biyu PHC was built to ensure that the community members of of Gada Yan Biyu in Shiroro Local Government Area (LGA) of Niger State, have access to quality healthcare. But the PHC is not able to meet the community’s healthcare needs as, according to Talatu Gomna, the officer in charge of the facility, there is insufficient supply of essential drugs and clinical equipment like delivery kits and vital signs assessment equipment are unavailable. “People in the community do not have access to adequate quality health services due to the unavailability of these basic but essential drugs. A woman in labor will have to buy drugs and other basic items, this discourages community members from visiting the health facility. They, especially pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, prefer to go to the clinics in town to access health care, Gomna said, adding that the facility does not have electricity, which limits 24-hour service delivery.
Bose Balogun, a community member, said that people in the community, especially women, don’t visit the PHC because there are “no delivery kits and no adequate drugs, so they prefer to visit other health facilities which are usually far from the community just to access health services”.
Primary healthcare should meet 80–90% of a person’s health needs so when a PHC performs well, it meets most of the people’s health needs. However, a PHC cannot perform well if it lacks the basic drugs, equipment, infrastructure and personnel required to enable it perform optimally.
The residents of Gada Yan Biyu do not deserve to live in a community where their health needs are not provided for. Therefore, the government Shiroro LGA and Niger state must do their utmost to address the issues raised in this PHC to ensure that community members can access healthcare where and when they need it.
What the community wants
- Provision of basic essential drugs and equipment in Gada Yan biyu PHC
- Provision of electricity at Gada Yan Biyu PHC
- Rehabilitation of the PHC to improve infrastructure.
