Borno Governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum, on Thursday, uncovered corrupt practices by some public healthcare centres after going undercover as a regular out-patient.
The governor who disguised his convoy visited some Government healthcare centres unannounced, during which he found some officials collecting between N8,000 to N10,000 from patients for free healthcare services.
The governor had asked Juliana Bitrus, the state’s health commissioner, to join him on a 10-seater bus that is usually used for airport services.
According to Issa Gusau, the governor’s spokesperson, Zulum visited the hospital without a convoy, leaving everyone surprised.
“Not even the health commissioner knew the governor’s plan,” Gusau said
Zulum headed straight to the newly established and fully equipped primary healthcare centre at Gwange II ward in Maiduguri and found that some workers were collecting between N8,000 to N10,000 before diagnosing and treating patients with common ailments like Malaria.
While narrating his experience after the mission, Zulum decried the high level of corruption and ineptitude demonstrated by the staff of the health centre.
“The staff we met here (at Gwange II, PHC) confirmed that they use to collect between N8,000 to N10,000 from patients to treat malaria. In fact, they have turned this Government health centre into a private hospital, and this is why the centre has been deserted by people who mostly do not have the money to access services here. The workers just collect money and put it in their pockets”, disappointed Zulum said.
The Governor directed the Borno State Primary Healthcare Agency to thoroughly investigate, identify all the culprits and take appropriate disciplinary actions.
Zulum was also sad that the same primary healthcare centre had only one medical staff on ground to attend to patients, despite having 29 health workers on Government payroll.
“You can imagine that at 2:00 pm, this primary healthcare centre we built and fully equipped is empty (because of extortion and without medical staff). This level of impunity cannot be tolerated. The earlier we address it, the better for all of us” Zulum queried.
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