The quality of service by public hospitals and primary health centres in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has dropped significantly, many residents have lamented.
Findings by our reporters revealed that the issues bedevilling the hospitals include inadequate bed spaces, manpower, prolonged and incessant strikes, and dearth of requisite medical equipment, among others.
Many doctors are also leaving the country in droves for greener pastures without immediate replacement, thereby putting pressure on the available doctors and causing overcrowding at outpatient units across several health facilities in the FCT.
Weekend Trust reports that inadequate bed spaces has sometimes worsened the conditions of many patients due to delay, as well as led to loss of lives as patients in critical conditions are sometimes referred to farther hospitals. Sometimes they seek alternative places when they are simply told to leave because there is no bed space at various hospitals.
Weekend Trust learnt that sometimes, emergency units and wards of some facilities are so full that patients are treated on the floor or told to leave their beds for others.
Residents of the FCT also face challenges accessing primary healthcare centres due to their deplorable states, distance from their communities and incessant strike action.
Also, patients in some rural communities, including nursing mothers, are facing serious challenges in accessing healthcare services due to strike by health personnel working at primary health centres across the six area councils of the FCT following the non-implementation of their demands by the council chairmen, apart from the new minimum wage.
Primary healthcare workers in Abuja, under the umbrella of the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), commenced an indefinite strike on March 24, 2025. The strike was triggered by the failure of the six area councils in the FCT to implement the N70,000 new minimum wage and address longstanding salary arrears.
Despite an April approval of N4 billion by FCT Minister Nyesom Wike to offset these obligations, workers allege that the area councils are yet to disburse the funds. With this impasse, health workers remain off duty, two months after leaving thousands of residents, particularly the poor and vulnerable, without access to basic healthcare services
Although the six council chairmen had last week paid the N70,000 new minimum wage, workers, under the aegis of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), are insisting that until the backlog of their members’ entitlements are cleared, they will not suspend the ongoing strike.
Patients and experts have called on the government to expand the bed spaces at emergency units and wards of health facilities to meet up with FCT’s growing population and address other challenges bedeviling the health system.
Patients share experiences
Mrs Sadiya Haruna (not real name) recalled that when she gave birth at a public health facility in Kubwa last year, she experienced heavy bleeding that required the attention of senior consultants, but she was shocked at the way she was asked to leave the labour ward because other women were waiting to give birth.
She was discharged that evening because there was no space in the ward. When her relative complained that she should be at the hospital for a while because of her condition, a nurse told them that ideally, she should have been in the facility to be observed till the next day, but there was no bed space. She was advised to come back the following day.
She lamented that she experienced so much headache and dizziness that night that her husband had to rush her to a private facility in the early hours of the next day.
Peace Julius also recalled an unpleasant experience when her younger brother was not feeling fine. They had rushed him to the emergency unit of Kubwa General Hospital but all the bed spaces were already filled up and the few doctors available were attending to patients.
She said, “We waited in the car for over one hour and no one was attending to us. As my brother was getting worse and losing consciousness, I had to rush him to the Primary Health Care Centre at Dutse, where he was stabilised before we went to another district hospital in town. My brother may have died if we continued waiting at the Kubwa General Hospital.”
Another resident who simply wants to be identified as Ade said his cousin may have survived if she was attended to earlier at the Nyanya General Hospital. He narrated that her illness turned worse early that morning and no one attended to them. They were rather told to go to the Asokoro District Hospital. They met the emergency unit already filled to capacity and decided to rush her to the National Hospital.
“Unfortunately, she died before we could reach the National Hospital. Despite the fact that she was gasping for breath, no one attended to us at the first hospital. It was terrible,” he lamented.
Patients lament prolonged health workers strike
Our reporters who visited some of the health centres across the six area councils observed that many of them have been under lock and key.
In many of the centres, some patients, including nursing mothers who came to immunise their new born babies, were turned back.
At the maternity health centre in Abaji, the centre remained shut with no single health worker present.
A pregnant woman, Mrs Zainab Mohammed, who came by bike to see medical personnel at the centre, was forced to return home after she saw that the centre was under lock and key.
The woman said she resided around the Kekeshi area of the town and had been using the centre for her ante-natal sessions, adding that the closure of the centre is going to affect many of them in such condition.
“I first visited a health centre at the Low-cost Housing and discovered that it was shut, so I decided to take a bike to the maternity centre so that I could meet any of the medical personnel to attend to me because I could not sleep last night due to waist pain. Unfortunately, on getting here, again, the centre was shut,” she lamented.
At the Kwali Township Clinic, the facility was also under lock and key and patients were forced to return home.
Mrs Rebecca Ayuba, a nursing mother who came to the clinic with her newborn baby strapped to her back for immunisation, said she had to leave after she was told that health workers were still on strike.
Also, at Gwagwalada, the township clinic was not open. Dust and sachet water bags littered its frontage.
Some patients, including staff, were seen seated in front of the clinic’s corridor discussing about the strike.
A nursing mother, Mrs Halima Musa, who came to the clinic with her newborn baby said, “Actually, I gave birth at a private hospital some weeks ago, from where they asked me to come to this township clinic to immunise the child, but unfortunately, on getting to the clinic this morning, it was shut. I was told that the workers were on strike.”
A community health worker at the centre, Samson Iliya, said the ongoing strike had been affecting patients in the area, adding that many patients suffering from various ailments, including HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, high blood pressure and diabetes were not attended to.
The chairman of the FCT chapter of the National Association of Nurses and Midwives (NANAM), Comrade Jamadi Medan, told Weekend Trust that his members closed down all the primary health centres across the six area councils since the strike started more than a month ago.
He said the association was worried that despite the fact that Nigeria is ranked second in maternal and child deaths, the government is still watching as primary health centres are closed down by workers as a result of strike.
According to him, there are 202 primary health centres across the six councils in the FCT with less than 103 midwives manning them.
“We are very worried that the polio vaccination for children is supposed to have commenced, but the lingering strike has affected the exercise. This is going to affect the poor children,” he lamented.
Comrade Medan revealed that apart from the minimum wage that has been implemented, there was also CONHESS salary and other entitlements that were yet to be implemented by the six area council chairmen at the time of filing this report.
Medical doctor speaks
Dr Zainab Nasiru Ladan said she witnessed the challenge of adequate bed spaces while working at the emergency unit of a government-owned hospital from 2023 to 2024, adding that the situation had already become critical.
Dr Zainab, whose video on the issue of inadequate bed space in hospitals recently went viral, said, “Even after moving patients to the wards and discharging those that were stable, we still couldn’t accommodate the number of patients arriving to the emergency department.”
She explained that they even attended to patients in their cars while still getting referrals from other hospitals facing the same challenge.
“That was when it became painfully clear each day that the system was under immense strain. And unfortunately, the patients were paying the price in that situation. That was why I just had to speak up. Honestly, in my video, I just wanted to voice out my frustration because it is not nice to tell your patient every day that you cannot take them because of bed space,” she also said.
Highlighting the impact of the inadequate bed spaces in FCT hospitals on patients, their families and healthcare delivery, she said, “Abuja is home to millions of Nigerians; and everyday, the population is growing and people are falling ill. They would turn to government-owned hospitals for care but we were unable to accommodate them at their time of need.
“Patients face worsening conditions or even death, which could have been prevented with timely access to quality care. For patients that cannot afford private hospitals, the situation is more dire. Many of them have to go from hospital to hospital in search of bed space. Some actually choose to wait in front of the emergency department in anticipation of getting a bed. In emergency cases, time is critical and no doctor will advise you to keep waiting. So we are always having those long arguments, trying to convince them to go and check other hospitals instead of just waiting with their patients.”
She revealed that patients’ relatives sometimes get violent when they are told that there is no bed space. “They would want us to give them a solution since they came to us for care, but unfortunately, we were not able to give them adequate solution. But we were doing our best in those situations,” she noted.
She said the way out was for government-owned hospitals to expand emergency departments – both medical and surgical – as well as establish trauma centres in tertiary hospitals.
Dr Zainab also said it was important to invest in manpower, particularly healthcare workers, to ensure smooth operation and adequate care for patients.
“There is the need to also create outpatient observation units, which is like a dedicated space in the emergency department where we can monitor and treat patients who do not require admission but need few hours of observation. That way, you will limit the number of patients that are occupying beds for a long time,” she added.
She also said revitalisation of primary healthcare centres across the country as planned by the federal government through the National Primary Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) would help reduce the burden on hospitals by providing more accessible and affordable care within communities.
She said, “This would reduce the influx of patients we get at tertiary hospitals and we will be able to accommodate all our patients.”
On the impact of the Japa syndrome, she said, “Honestly, healthcare workers in Nigeria are doing a lot. In most hospitals we have limited facilities, so we find ourselves being stretched. And the Japa issue has made us become even more stressed because we don’t have enough healthcare workers for our patients. So we have more to do with less staff. Every doctor that has left this country will tell you that he needs a safe working and healthy environment and a salary that can sustain him in Nigeria as the economy is not getting any better. And you are doing the work everyday, so you cannot even venture into other businesses. The work is demanding, so at least we should be paid enough to sustain us.
“I want to emphasize that the system has not completely failed, it is overwhelmed. As frontline doctors, we are doing our best to care for our patients, but we need the right support. We need more healthcare professionals, better infrastructure and a system that prioritizes the wellbeing of both patients and care providers.
Upward review charges in FCT hospitals
Also, patients attending public hospitals in the Federal Capital Territory have decried what they termed a sharp upward review of charges on services, some of them reportedly amounting to 400 per cent.
Weekend Trust reports that there are 14 general hospitals located across the six area councils that are run by the FCT administration.
It was learnt that the new charges, which came into effect last month, is forcing many patients to look for alternatives.
Investigation by our reporters indicate that the charges start right from the point of registration of patients to other services like consultation, laboratory tests, drugs, surgery, admission, among others. For instance, a first time patient is expected to pay N2,500 for consultation at the general outpatient section, while a registered patient is to pay N1,000 for the service, as against the previous rate of N1, 000 and N400 respectively. A first time patient at special clinics like optical or dental is now charged N4,500 for registration and consultation, while the registered patient pays N3,000, as against the previous N1,500 or N1,000 respectively.
A patient that visits the hospital during the afternoon, weekends or public holidays is expected to pay N3,000 for consultation at the period considered as emergency instead of the N1,000 charged previously.
Also affected in the new charges are patients on admission. In this case, N8,000 is charged for a night at the emergency section, a sharp increment from N2,500 previously. Admission at the ward now attracts N4,000 each day, against the previous rate of N5,000 per week.
Surgery services like a cesarean section now costs N210,000, an upward review from the previous N160,000, which was last reviewed two months earlier before the current rate.
Also, postnatal mothers that have to remain on admission after delivery are expected to pay N8,000 per day.
A number of staff interviewed at the Kubwa General Hospital disclosed that the number of patients had dropped significantly following the new charges.
A visiting patient, Daniel John, described the new charges as an inconsiderate action that bites hard against the masses.
“I came to check my eyes, and after paying N4,500 to register, instead of the N1,000 it used to be, I was asked to come back tomorrow. This is unfortunate,” he lamented.
Another patient, Agona Steven, who visited the hospital from Zuba, said he was rushed to the facility the previous day and was treated for injuries he sustained on board a commercial tricycle.
“I was directed to come back today for an x-ray due to the absence of power supply in the hospital yesterday, while the power generator was said to be faulty. It was this morning that I paid for the x-ray test and now waiting for the result,” he narrated.
Majority of the officials interviewed by our reporter, who craved anonymity, faulted the action of the government in increasing the charges.
Japa syndrome and tight financial management
On the other hand, shortage of medical manpower and lack of power to handle minor projects by the hospital management are among the many problems that hamper services at FCT health facilities.
Some officials interviewed by Weekend Trust disclosed that there was no deployment of staff to replace those that left in droves.
“You would hear about recruitment by the secretariat that oversees the health sector in the FCT, but in reality, there are no staff deployment to the hospitals,” a source said.
The source further alleged that the secretariat also denied the staff their welfare allowances, a situation that made many affected workers to resign.
He alleged that chief medical directors of FCT hospitals could no longer approve any amount of money for minor projects at their respected hospitals, unlike before when they could approve up to N200,000 for a project.
“Such funds are used to carry out minor maintenance on items like power generators. You can see how grasses have taken over everywhere in our hospital for a long time,” he lamented.
Reps seek FG’s intervention
On Wednesday this week, the House of Representatives called on the Federal Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) to urgently address an impending healthcare crisis in the FCT by rescuing its healthcare system from collapse.
This followed the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance moved by Rep Nnamdi Ezechi at plenary on Wednesday.
Presenting the motion, he warned that there was an alarming strain on the healthcare system in the FCT, with government hospitals and medical facilities being severely overstretched, resulting in a critical shortage of bed spaces and medical personnel.
According to the lawmaker, the population of the FCT has surged significantly over the past two decades, while many of the existing government hospitals were constructed several years ago, with little or no expansion to match the growing demand for healthcare services
Ezechi lamented that patients in need of critical medical attention were often left unattended or subjected to long waiting hours due to the unavailability of hospital beds and limited capacity of existing facilities, leading to preventable loss of lives daily.
The lawmaker added that lack of sufficient medical personnel, including doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers, further exacerbated the crisis, reducing the quality of care and increasing the burden on the few available staff.
He warned, “If immediate interventions are not made, the healthcare crisis may escalate to unmanageable levels, undermining the right to health and threatening the wellbeing of residents in the nation’s capital.
“A strategic review and upgrade of health infrastructure in the FCT, along with a comprehensive recruitment drive for medical professionals, will address the urgent needs and ensure better health outcomes.”
The House adopted the motion and urged the Federal Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the FCT Administration, to immediately assess the state of health facilities in the territory with the aim of identifying critical areas for expansion, upgrade and resource allocation.
The House also called on the federal government to declare a state of emergency in the healthcare system of the FCT, ensuring that emergency funds are released for the upgrade of hospitals, recruitment of medical personnel and acquisition of critical medical equipment.
It further encouraged the FCT Administration to partner with private sector stakeholders and international health agencies to boost capacity in the short term while long-term solutions are being implemented.
‘What the FCTA is doing to address the challenges’
Reacting, the acting director-general of the Hospital Management Board, Dr Olugbenga Bello, said there was population surge in the FCT that outstripped the current facilities within the territory.
He, however, said the FCT minister had prioritised the completion of abandoned health facilities and made budgetary provisions for the completion of 250-bed capacity at Utako and New Gwarinpa General Hospitals and an 80-bed Gwagwalada Cottage Hospital in the 2024 budget.
“Other governmental and non-governmental organisations are also being supported to build more hospitals within the territory,” he added.
On measures against strikes, he said the FCTA had paid virtually all owed salaries and allowances of all health workers and was committed to paying at when due. He added that work environment was also receiving a facelift to make it more conducive.
On the review of charges in hospitals he said, “This is necessary for some cost recovery in view of inflation and the loss of value of the naira. The services in our hospitals are still heavily subsidised and remain most affordable amongst public hospitals within the territory.
“In addition, some consumables that were hitherto charged separately, like gloves, cotton wool, methylated spirit etc are now provided as a bundle, thereby reducing the total cost to the patient.”
Also, on Wednesday during the 2025 budget defence at the Senate, the FCT minister, Nyesom Wike, announced the procurement of advanced MRI and CT scanners for hospitals.
He said this was part of FCTA’s efforts to improve access to quality medical care in the territory.
He also expressed commitment to addressing the challenges affecting the FCT health system.
(Daily trust)
