From Jude Chinedu, Enugu
The state of Ikem General Hospital, located in Ikem, Isiuzo Local Government Area of Enugu State has caused residents of the community untold pain and frustration despite several promises made by government.
Originally established to take care of the health needs of residents of communities in Isiuzo and Udenu local government areas, the hospital has been left to rot with no facilities to take care of basic health needs of the people.
Our reporter visited the hospital and also interacted with locals who expressed sadness over the state of the hospital despite several promises by the government.
Ikem General Hospital; a ghost of its former self
On getting to the entrance of the hospital, our reporter was confronted with the sight of overgrown weed which almost eclipsed the signpost of the hospital. A rusty bus with an inscription Ikem General Hospital could be seen packed beside a non-functional borehole with an empty overhead tank just by the left of the hospital entrance.
Antiquated hospital vehicle beside a non-fictional borehole.
Just beside the bus, partially burnt syringes, needles and other disposable medical instruments could be seen indicating that the hospital does not have a functional incinerator.
Sadly, there was no staff at the hospital when our reporter visited.
The entrance to the main hospital hall was locked. Behind the hall is a newly built Out Patient Department (OPD) which residents say was newly constructed by the state government. The OPD however is surrounded by thick bushes with no staff in sight.
By the far left of the OPD is what used to serve as the hospital ward. The structure was demolished by the state government after a resident made a video of it and posted on Facebook in early 2020.
Relics of the demolished ward at the hospital
The government felt embarrassed by the gory sight and pulled the building down promising to build a befitting ward for the hospital. The relics of the building were still intact when our reporter visited two years later. By implication, no patient can be taken on admission in the hospital since there is no ward.
The maternity section of the hospital is said to be fully functional though most residents have lost faith in the facility. The maternity was under lock possibly because it was Sunday. The women now make due with services of private maternity homes and traditional birth attendants.
Tellingly, other functional sections of the hospital include the laboratory and the hospital mortuary.
This reporter visited a bungalow located a few meters away from the hospital which was meant to serve as the doctors quarters. The building is uninhabited as the two doctors posted to the hospital live outside the community.
Unihabited Doctors’ quarters under lock and key
While one lives far away in Nsukka town (over 65 kilometers from the hospital), the other comes to work from Eha-Amufu where he is said to be running a private clinic.
On a second visit to the hospital, our reporter met a staff member of the hospital who was willing to talk albeit under anonymity. He said that though the government said it would renovate the hospital, no action has been seen from the government.
“The state government wanted to renovate that hospital but after demolishing the ward, they left it like that. This happened in 2020. People have even started encroaching on the hospital land. Nothing is working in the hospital except the mortuary and the lab which works partially.
“We have two doctors now. One left for Nsukka. None of them are living in the hospital. One is living in Eha Amufu while the other one is living in Nsukka. Most of the nurses are visitors. There are about 10 nurses but none live at the hospital.
“The hospital doesn’t do admission, they don’t do operations. If you have a wound now and you go to the hospital, they cannot even treat your wound. There is no electricity and there is no generator. It is the only lab that has a generator which was donated by Late Chief Greg Ugwueze,” he said.
This serves as the hospital’s maternity section
Another health worker who hails from the community, Moses Nnamchi, said the hospital only exists on paper. He said that, “if you have a headache you cannot treat it there. It exists on paper. Nobody’s there, you don’t see doctors; you don’t see nurses. All of them are running their private business because the government is not serious about it and nobody is asking questions.”
Nnamchi swore that, “As long as I am alive, none of my relatives will go there for any reason. Even if I am unconscious, nobody should take me to that place. What’s the essence of taking me there when there is nobody to take care of me?”
“Our women go to all these local midwives. That’s the only alternative. If you go to the hospital now you don’t see anybody. All the doors are locked. So are you taking a woman in labour there to see the physical building or to be attended to. As I am speaking to you, it’s a dead zone. It’s a place where these rascals go to smoke and play there gambling because nothing is happening there.”
Dennis Agbo, a public servant who hails from the area narrated how two of his cousins died as a result of the poor state of the hospital.
“I have had two cousins who died because of the condition of the so-called general hospital in my community. One is a man who was 25 year old before he died. He had an accident at Neke and because this place is not functioning he was taken to a hospital in Eha Amufu. Unfortunately, before they could get to Ehamufu, he died.
“Another one is a girl who was married at Umueru. She was pregnant and they said she had a fibroid. She was operated on in a private hospital in Eha Amufu; the lady died there. That’s how my cousins died.
“When we were small we enjoyed that hospital but it is no longer the case. Basically there are no functional hospitals around here and Enugu is far for people around here.”
Gabriel Nnaji, one of the community leaders in the area accused the government of utter neglect after several promises. “Our people are suffering because of this kind of service. We don’t have a hospital anywhere. The building is there but there is no hospital.
“If the government can come and do some renovations, bring doctors that can be here and get the necessary equipment things will be different. But if you cry and no one is listening, you will continue to cry so that maybe someday it will please the government of the day to do something.
“The state Ministry of Health should tell us why this general hospital is different from the other five general hospitals in the state. For me I don’t know. When our people get sick and they don’t have money to go to Enugu, then you are at the mercy of God.
“If Enugu State is in the hands of God, then we are in the stomach of God. If there is any emergency that needs doctors attention, there is no hospital. It is a terrible situation. If it pleases them, they know what to do.”
Another resident Ejiofor Agbo recalled that the hospital was fully functional in the 80s but is a shadow of its former self now. He pleaded with the government to urgently intervene to save the lives of its citizens which the hospital is meant to serve.
The hospital’s partially functional laboratory
When contacted to speak on the state of the hospital, the administrator, Enugu State Hospital Management Board, Dr Okechukwu Ossai told our reporter that he had a television programme. He also declined to speak over the phone with the excuse that he cannot talk to someone he does not know in person.
He asked our reporter to call him the next day. On the said day, Dr Ossai said he had travelled to Lagos and would be back by weekend. He requested that our reporter should call him on Tuesday of next week.
When our reporter called him on Tuesday morning he refused to pick his call. He has not returned the call or responded to text messages sent to his line since then.
Comment here