Dawakiji PHC, situated in the Dawakiji community of Dawakin Kudu Local Government Area (LGA) of Kano State, provides essential healthcare services, such as antenatal care (ANC), routine immunisation (RI), curative care, as well as other basic healthcare services to the residents of Dawakiji and surrounding communities of Makole, Kode, Tsakuwa, and Gano.
Last year, Nigeria Health Watch reported on the challenges at Dawakiji Primary Health Centre (PHC), including a shortage of human resources, the lack of an equipped labour room, and inadequate medical equipment. Unfortunately, there has been very little change since then.
Although the officer-in-charge (OiC) of the facility, Dr Kabiru Umar, acknowledged that there has been a slight improvement in the number of staff in the PHC from 8 in the previous year to 13 currently, he said there are still other pressing issues, such as the need for more rooms for patients in the facility.
Safiya Muhammad Ibrahim, who oversees the labour and delivery, ANC, and family planning units, said the delivery ward still lacks sufficient staff, and there are only two health workers in the unit. "We do not have a midwife. Two of us cannot effectively handle all the units at the same time," she said. Additionally, the delivery room lacks a water and drainage system. "We also need a demarcation in our ANC ward for a palpation room, and we need to demarcate the delivery room to create a resting room for women after delivery," she explained.
The lack of ample wards in Dawakiji PHC has resulted in congestion and delays in service delivery due to the increasing number of women accessing family planning, ANC, child immunisation, and delivery services at the PHC.
Maryam Ibrahim, a resident of Dawakiji and a mother of four, said she had delivered two of her children at the Dawakiji PHC and would appreciate if an ultrasound machine was provided at the facility to decrease their reliance on other facilities for diagnostic ultrasound.
As they did one year ago, the health workers at Dawakiji PHC and residents are calling on the government to:
- Recruit at least one midwife at the health facility
- Refurbish the delivery room and equip the facility with an ultrasound machine.
