Suku Community In Wase, Plateau Decry Of The Deplorable State Of Primary Health Care Center, Lack Of Clean Water, Dilapidated Classrooms

Yakubu Busari

• Says Patients  Sleep On Mat Before Receiving Treatment

Worried by the deplorable state of Primary Health Care Centres in Wase Local Government Council of Plateau State, the residents have decried about the issue of poor delivery of health care facilities, as many patients don’t have beds to sleep on when they come medical admission.

Our medium gathered that the situation became so critical when one of the nursing mothers was hospitalized in  Wase LGA, Plateau state a few days ago.

According to the source, over 5,000 residents have been denied access to healthcare, education, and clean water, as the members of the state assembly and representatives are overheating the politics.

Our reporter gathered that four hundred children are currently receiving school lessons under inhumane environments and conditions, and the health centre is nothing to write home about.

However, in Suku community of Wase LGA, over 5,000 residents do not have access to healthcare, education, and clean water.  Suku is the oldest community in Kadarko District of Wase LGA and the majority of the residents are illiterate and remain farmers.

The only Primary Health center in Suku is merely a building with a roof but suffers challenges of the political sideline as there are no beds, no drugs or equipment to treat Snake bites, and other sicknesses.

Besides, this ugly development, there is also no toilet or bathroom in some of the PHC, especially with the outbreak of covid-19. The staff must improvise with the available resources and sometimes purchase medications for the patients.

When this medium embarked on the investigative report to the community, he spoke to the Wazirin Suku, who lamented the situation and the government’s insensitivity to their plight of the vulnerable areas saying they can’t afford qualitative drinking water talk less of getting the children to acquire western education to help them achieve their goal in life.

“The PHC built by the Local Government has nothing at all. Even the mat and table in the PHC belong to the Chief (i.e. Sarki). The staff of the PHC always purchases drugs and other medications that are given to patients.

The government did not provide anything to cater for the plight of his people, we are neglected and forgotten by those communities.” He said.

We have presented our request to the LGA Chairman and the other politicians on several occasions, yet the story remains the same, our people are dying of pandemics during the dry season but the government is not concerned about providing the amenities.

The community has also been without clean water for many years and had to take matters into their own hands two years ago when they saw that no help was coming. According to them, Sarki the community head took the bold step to organize the people to contribute money to dig boreholes.

“The government is doing nothing to better our community. Before, we go as far as 22 kilometers from SUKU to Wase to fetch water. It was not until 2019 that my people contributed some money and dug two boreholes.” he said.

In the Takalafiya community, also in Wase LGA, the people contributed their financial and workforce resources to build two classrooms at the dilapidated LEA Primary School, Takalafiya. But two classrooms cannot house over four hundred pupils.

The entire school is in terrible condition as there are no windows, roofs, or furniture. The pupils have to learn in an open field, affecting learning during rainy and dry seasons.

“There are over four hundred pupils in the school, and they have to manage in terrible conditions. Whenever it rains, we have to move all of them to the two classrooms that were built by the community because the other classes don’t have roofs.

The government should help us build new classrooms. The current situation is terrible, and our children are suffering just because they want to learn. This is unfair.” said Mallam Biyu, a father of one of the pupils in the school.

The communities in Wase, appealed to the Governor of plateau state Simon Lalong, Senator Prof. Nora Ladi Daduut, Honourable Ahmed Idris Wase representing the constituency and also the Deputy Speaker in the House of Representatives, the LGA Chairman, Dr. Abubakar Ado Buba,  and other relevant stakeholders to provide quality healthcare and education to Takalafiya and Suku communities in Wase Local Government.