Universal health coverage (UHC) according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), means that all people have access to the full range of quality health services they need, when and where they need them, without financial hardship. It covers the full continuum of essential health services, from health promotion to prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and palliative care across the life course.
Nigeria is far from achieving UHC with less than 15% share of gross domestic product (GDP) allocated to the health sector.
Runji village located in Bungudu Local Government Area of Zamfara state is a community which is directly at the receiving end of Nigeria’s failure to meet its UHC target as residents had no access to even the most basic health care facility and as a result residents were forced to travel to Furfuri town and Bungudu general hospital the headquarters of Bungudu local government to access medical facilities.
Sabiu Hassan in this report examines how a constituency project brought some relief to residents of Runji Village.
Runji a Village in Bungudu Local Government area about ----- kilometres from the capital Gusau had no medical facility as the Primary Health Centre in the community was in a dilapidated state, having had its roof blown away and was no longer in use as it was severely damaged and had been out of use for the past 17 years.
Community leaders in the area in recognition of the critical need to have access to healthcare facilities had made efforts through various committees they set up to ensure that they set up the most basic facility to meet their health needs but their effort was unsuccessful.
Village head of Runji Usman Tudu, explained that patients used to be conveyed to Furfuri and Bungudu general hospital for treatment and this made them spend more.
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This he said was particularly sad, considering the poor state of the roads especially during the rainy season.
A resident of the village Zainab Sani a housewife, lamented the fact that they had to travel far to Furfuri and Bela neighbouring communities which was 45 minutes to an hour drive, this she said was tough on residents especially during disease outbreaks such as cholera, and cerebro spinal meningitis sometimes leading to regrettable loss of life.
Mrs Sani said pregnant women were also negatively impacted by this situation especially since the roads were in such a poor state.
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Another resident, Salihu Sada said the time spent traveling to access healthcare in neighboring Furfuri and Bela sometimes led to worsening condition of the patient making them to spend more.
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Succour however came the way of residents of Runji Village when during an electioneering campaign member representing Maru/Bungudu Federal Constituency in Zamfara state, Abdul Malik saw the dilapidated state of the health centre and promised to include it in the list of constituency projects if elected as a means of bringing healthcare close to the people.
Constituency projects were created to ensure a minimum presence of government in every constituency by having some grass-roots projects sited in each, during the budgeting process.
So, constituency projects can mean a project in any community that is nominated into a budget by a particular legislator. Legislators are required to identify projects which they wished to be sited in their constituencies for inclusion in the budget.
Fortunately, Honourable Malik was elected and he made good his promise of fixing the Primary health care centre in Runji.
And a six-bed facility with a water system and solar electricity was constructed to meet the health needs of Runji residents.
This was achieved through the inclusion of the project in the list of projects for his constituency in the 2023 budget.
A Senior doctor with the facility Dr Sani Abdurrahman, explained that the facility has helped alleviate the health struggles of members of the community as they no longer have to travel long distances to access basic healthcare.
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Village head of Runji, Alhaji Tudu expressed joy and satisfaction that people no longer have to travel long distances to access healthcare.
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Salihu Sada expressed happiness that the time spent commuting to far away Furfuri and Bela to access healthcare can now be used for more productive ventures.
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Mrs Sani who expressed joy that the health care centre is able to handle ante natal however called for expansion in order to enable women deliver their children.
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Umar Gado Madawakin while noting that residents can now heave a sigh of relief however called for more health personnel to attend to patients.
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Hon Zubairu maintained that, his major concern was how to uplift the living standard of his people.
This story was produced by Gold City Fm 105.5 in partnership with Nigeria Health Watch through the Solutions Journalism Network.