By Marie-Therese Nanlong

Jos – The Plateau State Specialists’ Hospital, strategically located in Jos, the State capital has a mix of modern and old structures that accommodate staff and patients who go there for treatment.

Some of the structures, as old as the hospital which started operation in the colonial days, are still existing in the facility begging for attention.

There have been efforts by the diverse administrations in the State to reposition the hospital for improved service delivery. The administration of former Governor Jonah Jang awarded contracts for the construction of some new structures in the hospital which included the administrative, the laboratory, and the paediatric blocks. 

The construction of these structures could not be completed before that tenure elapsed and his successor, Simon Lalong also made some efforts and left office without them being completed but the governor Caleb Mutfwang’s administration saw to the completion of the three projects started over a decade ago. 

There are suspicions that the structures, though completed, have some defects that must be addressed before being put to use. Efforts to ascertain the amount of money spent so far on the work were unsuccessful because there is no proper record of the contract sum spent over the years. A management staff said of the amount, “We can’t say how much because the contract was awarded and re-awarded over the years. We were not here when it started.”

However, recent information obtained from the State Bureau of Public Procurement say the contracts sum for the projects worthed N190,896,268.

At the time of this report done after a project monitoring exercise initiated by the Accountability Lab Nigeria through its Anti-Corruption Innovation Project, ACIP carried out in Plateau State in partnership with the Open Contracting Partnership with the support from the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP, these structures are not in use months after their completion as staff and patients called for an urgent relocation to the newly constructed buildings.

The impacts structures can make:

A staff whose office is in the old administrative block told this reporter anonymously that, “I don’t look forward to coming to work because of the cramped space. We have computers here that generate heat, when I am in the office, I feel suffocated and dizzy. That is why I stay outside there frequently to get fresh air.

“I was excited about the new building because I know we will have enough space there but the excitement has died down since we have not been asked to move there. My fear is that the delay may cause dilapidation that will make us not enjoy the structure.

“Moving into the new structure will enhance my work because the time spent in getting fresh air outside can be used to do more work in the office.”

A patient, Gloria Inusa said, “The new structure at the children clinic has been a welcome development because there is enough space compared with the one in use now but the new place is not open to patients and staff. There is no toilet in the old structure and the toilets in the new structure cannot be used because the place is not open.” 

Another patient, Blessed Chollom added, “I didn’t know what the new buildings were until I was told that one of them is for the laboratories. When I come here for a test, I always get exhausted moving from one place to the other. If the structure is put to use, the stress of moving from one lab to the other will be reduced.” 

Why the new structures are not put to use:

when asked why the structures are not in use, the State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Cletus Shurkuk said “The Ministry of Health is waiting for the official handing over from the contractor who still has some grey areas to address. The Ministry of Justice is handling the issue(s) observed and once they are resolved, the structures will be put to use.”

The Chief Medical Director of the Hospital, Professor Chris Yilgwan added, “The hospital is awaiting a handing over from the Ministry of Health and once that is done, the hospital will make use of the facilities.”