Nkem Igweike was just a month into his mandatory one-year service in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Buruku Local Government Area of Benue State when he fell ill on the night of 1 October.
The following morning, a doctor attended to him at the General Hospital, Buruku, and prescribed some drugs. However, the pharmacist was not on duty. “I waited for over two hours in pain,” Mr Igweike recalled.
When the pharmacist eventually arrived, he told the patient that the hospital had only two of the five drugs prescribed in stock.
“I was told to go to Gboko – over 50 kilometres away – to buy the medicine.”
Ill-equipped
Ewada Inalegwu, the assistant secretary of the facility, said it is ill-equipped for its role as a secondary healthcare service provider. He said the hospital is grossly understaffed and does not have an ambulance or any vehicle that can be used in emergencies.
“We don’t even have inexperienced staff, let alone experienced…