Dearth of medical personnel has adversely affected healthcare delivery in state-owned hospitals in Katsina State, residents say, calling for urgent intervention.

The state government, however, insists it is doing its best to salvage the awry situation.

Respondents who spoke with journalists on Sunday in Katsina noted that most hospitals lacked medical doctors, nurses, and midwives.

They also lamented the shortage of medical laboratory technologists and community health extension workers, compelling those at hand to be overwhelmed.

They expressed regret that patients and their accompanying relatives suffer long hours in the hospitals before getting attention.

Many said government hospital was their only choice as they could not afford to go to private hospitals.

They said common ailments like malaria fever, typhoid, injuries, and pneumonia were difficult to handle.

Bala Shamsu, a patient’s father, said he took his child to a public hospital at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday but was not treated until around 1:00 p.m. due to a large number of patients.

“When we went to the hospital, we discovered that it was only one staff member attending to patients at the Out-Patient Department,” he said.

A mother, Hamida Muhammad, said the situation was more challenging in rural communities.

In his remarks, Mustapha Haruna observed that recruiting more health personnel would also solve the state’s unemployment problem.

He noted that hundreds of youths who graduated from various health training institutions in different fields were roaming the streets without jobs.

Reacting to the citizens’ concerns, Commissioner for Health, Yakubu Nuhu-Danja, said, “the state government is doing its best to address the shortage of human resources at all levels of healthcare delivery.

“Between September and October alone, Gov. Aminu Bello Masari approved the recruitment of 272 personnel in addition to more than 300 already recruited jointly with GAVI Alliance, at primary healthcare centre level,” he said.

“At the secondary healthcare level (General Hospitals), more than 1,000 personnel were employed from 2020 to date.

“All these are in addition to the thousands of healthcare employees engaged on an ad hoc basis as approved by governments at all local government councils,” Mr Nuhu-Danja added. 

(NAN)