The state government is not allocating enough funds to healthcare according to officials who spoke to Premium Times. According to the report, the government has spent N1.23 billion on renovations and maintenance at the General hospital in Odan between 2021 and 2023. And yet, a tour of the facility revealed many structures in disrepair.
One doctor said the hospital barely has three operating theatres. “You don’t even have a full complement of anaesthetic machines for these theatres,” the doctor said. “We have an intensive care unit (ICU) that cannot be used because they didn’t provide the needed equipment, ventilators, etc.
Premium Times also found that, exactly one year after an elevator crash from the 10th floor in the hospital’s doctors’ quarters that claimed the life of medical intern Dr. Vware Diaso in August 2023, the elevator remained unfixed. A signpost outside the building, however, indicated that Julius Berger had been contracted to rehabilitate the 10-storey structure.