Malam Mohammadu Bashiru, the District Head of Makwalla Kurmin Kaduna community in Kaduna State, has appealed to the state government to establish
more Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) in the area to handle the health needs of the people.
He made the appeal in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Kaduna.
Bashiru said building more PHCs in communities across River Kaduna would reduce problems associated with maternal and infant mortality and other ailments suffered by people in the villages.
He recalled how pregnant women living on the other side of the river suffer while crossing in canoes to access healthcare centres, saying “some women lose their babies on the way to the health centres.
“Most women take commercial motorcycles (Okada) from their villages to the river bank before taking commercial canoes to cross the river”
“We want more healthcare centres in the communities to save lives of our women and children.
“When I was a sailor some years back before getting (this) traditional title, I witnessed how pregnant women delivered babies in my canoe twice.”
He, however, commended the state government for building a 12-room Primary Health Care centre in the area, which he said had reached 90 per cent completion “but work has stopped.”
He, therefore, appealed to the government to complete the centre to help the people, noting that “if the PHC is completed, about 10 communities will benefit from it.
Mrs Mairo Sani, a resident of kurmin-Kaduna, also complained about how the people cross the river to access health centres on the other side.
She said “pregnant women suffer a lot while going to health centres for ante-natal, especially during rainy season.
“Women also suffer during emergencies, especially at night when commercial canoe riders have gone home. Crossing the river is a big problem.”
She, therefore, called on the Kaduna State Government to construct a bridge across the river to reduce the sufferings of the people.
Sani further called on government to provide good access road so that all the 10 communities surrounding Kurmin Kaduna would easily access health centre.
