A civil society organisation (CSO), MonITNG, has issued a call for concern over the dire condition of the State, describing it as a “complete shadow of what a healthcare facility should be.”

The organisation released a statement on Tuesday highlighting the urgent need for government intervention to address the facility’s dilapidated state, which serves over 2,000 residents from surrounding agrarian communities.

It described the health clinic as a building on the brink of collapse, with massive cracks running through its walls and a roof that is weak and deteriorating. According to the organisation, the interior of the Dauraku Health Clinic is dark and damp, with walls peeling and soaked from years of neglect.

Speaking further on the pitiful condition of the health clinic, MonITNG revealed that snakes have turned the clinic into a hiding spot, and residents are forced to stay away even when they require urgent medical care.

“The stench, coupled with the lack of ventilation, makes the space unbearable. Shockingly, snakes and other reptiles now use the clinic as a hiding place. Residents, fearing for their safety, are forced to stay away, even when they’re sick and in desperate need of medical help,” it noted.

Compounding the challenges facing the clinic is the absence of doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers. As a result, residents of the surrounding communities deliver their babies at home when in labour, while elderly people have to endure long, risky journeys across bad roads in search of better medical centres.

The organisation further implored the Governor of Katsina State, Dikko Radda, to intervene and come to the aid of the residents who are denied proper healthcare as a result of the clinic’s deplorable state.

“We call on the Katsina State Government to urgently intervene. The people of Dauraku deserve better. This facility must be completely overhauled or rebuilt from scratch, with proper beds, solar-powered electricity, clean water, medical personnel, and essential drugs and equipment.

“The safety of the community depends on it. Healthcare is not a privilege. It is a right. The lives of rural citizens must matter too,” it added.