CISLAC lauds renovation of dilapidated Dausara healthcare facility

The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) has commended the on-going effort by the Kano State Government in collaboration with United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to renovate the dilapidated Dausara primary healthcare (PHC) facility, in Ungogo Local Government Area of Kano state, which had for a long time suffered neglect, rendering the facility monumentally inefficient to discharge maternal and child healthcare services.

It would be recalled that in mid-2017, CISLAC had with support from Macarthur Foundation supported journalists from across Kano, Kaduna, Katsina and Jigawa states to carryout investigative reporting around maternal health budget allocations, release and utilization across the respective states.

It was such investigative reports by reporters of Guardian and Daily Trust newspapers in Kano that exposed issues the ill-equipped and pitiable condition of Dausara primary healthcare facility which denied pregnant mothers in Dausara and neighboring communities’ access to maternal healthcare services.

CISLAC regrets that the precarious condition of the Dausara facility had resulted in the death of 3 pregnant women in 2016 at the facility which serves patients from neighboring communities like Malamawa, Hayin Rimaye, Dan Kunkuru, Zango, Adaraye, Inusawa, Kuriwa, Dauni, amongst others.

“We find it worrisome that ill-funded and obsolete PHCs across the country have not only contributed to the high rate of maternal and child deaths but also constitute the major impediments rendering the states incapacitated to effectively domesticate and implement the primary healthcare provisions enshrined in the National Health Act 2014,” says a statement by CISLAC.

The statement which applauded the on-going initiative aimed at saving the lives of mothers and children in Dausara and neighboring communities also urged for the replication of such efforts in all PHCs across Kano state as well as ensuring sustainable funding mechanism for the facilities to achieve their established objectives.

“We also demand appropriate monitoring and oversight over healthcare workers to achieve total compliance to medical code of conduct and restore citizens’ confidence in the public health system which will improve attendance at the facilities in the state,” concludes the statement.