Ogun: Residents cry out as medical workers desert collapsed health centre
Communities in the Odeda Local Government Area of Ogun State, on Monday, appealed to the state government to help them rebuild their only health centre that has collapsed.
Our correspondent gathered that the facility was built as a constituency project of some federal lawmakers in 2007.
When our correspondent visited the communities on Monday, the health facility has been deserted by medical workers after it collapsed.
The facility was said to have served six Community Development Committees which had over 100 communities each.
The Chairman of the Federal-Opeji CDC, one of the affected communities, Dapo Wahab, said the facility, before it collapsed, served five others which were Bode-Olude Area CDC, Fadage Area CDC, Ilupeju-Bode-Olude Area CDC, Mawuko Area CDC and part of Arakanga Area CDC.
Wahab said medical workers had to leave the structure when it started collapsing.
He said, “This hospital was named Bode-Olude Health Centre. It was built for the benefit of the community people. In the area, we have more than 100 communities that are benefitting from this facility.
“Aside from Ifedara-Opeji Area Community Development Committee that hosts this health facility, we have others such as Bode-Olude, Ilupeju-Bode-Olude Area CDC, Fadage Area CDC, Mawuko Area CDC and part of Arakanga Area CDC.
“One area CDC has more than 40 CDAs, and we have more than 5,000 community members benefiting from this health facility.
“It was sponsored by Senator Iyabo Obasanjo- Bello and Kayode Amusan. We renovated part of it with N1m that the communities contributed.”
Wahab said the communities had been seeking help from the state government beginning from the administration of a former governor, Gbenga Daniel, but nothing was done.
“This is a difficult situation for us. We are living in agony, people are not happy, and we have a lot of pregnant women in these communities. This is what they depend on. It is very difficult for them to move from here to the General Hospital in Oke-Ijeun or FMC in Idi-Aba.
“All the medical staff posted here left this place because they don’t want to risk their lives because of the devastating situation.
“There was a time they were taking delivery in the rain because there was no roof in the hospital.
“The present local government chairman, Folashade Adeyemo, came to the place and could not enter because of the devastating situation.”
When contacted, the chairperson of the Odeda Local Government Area, Adeyemo, said, “I have sent the details to the Governor’s Office and the Ministry of Health. The needful would be done.”
The Special Adviser to the Governor on Health, Dr Tomi Coker, had yet to respond to a message sent to her on the matter. Punch
