In surprise visit, Jigawa governor catches health workers selling free drugs

Jigawa State Governor Umar Namadi has condemned the actions of health workers who he caught selling drugs meant to be freely given to children under the age of five during an unannounced visit to the General Hospital in Dutse.

Governor Namadi’s spokesperson, Hamisu Gumel, disclosed this in a statement on Monday.

Gumel said Namadi described the action of the health workers as sabotage, noting that it contravened the state government’s policy on free healthcare for children under five and lactating mothers.

“The governor was particularly worried to find out that patients—even under-fives—were being sold drugs in the hospital in contravention of the State Government’s policy of free healthcare to under-five-year-old children in the state,” Gumel said

He added that 70 per cent of the children’s caregivers and lactating mothers interviewed by Governor Namadi during the unscheduled visit said they bought drugs and were not given bedsheets.

Gumel noted that the governor frowned at the “lackadaisical attitude” of the hospital’s management, saying, “This is tantamount to sabotage, which the perpetrators will not go unpunished.”

According to him, Namadi was dissatisfied with the deplorable condition of the hospital.

He noted that Namadi also observed the hospital’s deplorable condition, such as the lack of electricity in some areas, leaving both staff and patients in the dark, and the lack of window nets to prevent mosquitoes in some patient wards.