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The Ipokia Local Government Health Clinic in Iropo, Ogun State |
Established over 30 years ago, the terrible state of the the terrible state of the Ipokia Local Government Health Clinic in Iropo, Ogun State, a,betrays any semblance of a life-saving medical facility. Manned by only two members of staff – a young nurse and a middle-aged doctor.
The hospital apart from lacking basic items required to deliver quality healthcare to the hundreds of low-income-earning residents who throng it every month for solution, does not have enough drugs to treat minor cases like malaria and typhoid – the two most prevalent ailments in the area. To make matters worse, the hospital boasts of only one bed to treat a population size of over 10, 000 people (young and old) who rely on it for their medical needs.
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The only bed in the Hospital |
The only well providing water for the hospital has since run dry and has been converted to a dump where feaces of patients who defecate in polythene bags are littered. On occasions where there are so many newly delivered mothers around, each is allowed to rest on the hospital’s only bed for a few minutes before giving way to another woman and her baby.
At times, when the entire place is ‘jam-packed’, the women are sent back home to take care of themselves almost immediately after they had been delivered of their babies. For patients who visit this hospital and the two staff on ground to attend to their needs, it is a helpless situation – one whose elastic can stretch no further.
“Apart from shortage of staff and lack of basic infrastructure like toilet, bathroom and water, electricity is also another major problem we face here. If a woman is to be delivered of a baby in the night, battery powered torch light is used to attend to her as the hospital does not have a generator of its own.
The unavailability of electricity supply has made communication with the outside world for many of the communities in this region very difficult. Mobile phones are gathered once in two days to be charged at 100 Naira each in Ifonyintedo, about 15 kilometers away.
Even at that, mobile communications network in the area is erratic and largely unstable. In extreme cases, residents rely on visitors to bring them news of happenings in the locality and country.
“We at Info 247 Plus are pleading with government to quickly intervene and provide the people of this area with good health care and save many lives in the process,”
