Toro Local Government Area of Bauchi State is one of the most populous local councils in Nigeria. Toro has nearly 1.2 million people, largely into small-scale businesses. The local government area shares boundary with Plateau, Kaduna, and Kano States.
Despite its large population, the General Hospital in Toro is the only government hospital yet is inadequately staffed yet local councils like Jos North, Jos East, Lere in Kaduna and parts of Bauchi local council are dependent on Toro for medical attention. Every day, the hospital attends to no fewer than 200 patients from these local government areas.
Consequently, the General Hospital Toro has become the busiest health facility in Bauchi State after Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital and the Specialist Hospital in Bauchi metropolis. This implies that approximately 1.5 million people share the facility from five local government areas.
However, the main concern here is not the issue of population. The concern is on inadequate facilities in the hospital in terms of professional medical practitioners and adequate bed spaces, among others, that can serve the need of the people sharing a single health institution.
This has resulted in a situation where patients are being neglected not because the medical personnel are not doing their best but because the issue is far beyond their control.
Every single unit at the General Hospital Toro is occupied and congested especially the antenatal clinic to the extent that a pregnant woman can take three to four days before seeing a doctor unless it’s an emergency situation. Still there is the inadequacy of beds in the hospital; patients are receiving treatment on mats due to insufficient beds.
Therefore, people of Toro and its neighbouring local government areas need urgent intervention especially in this pandemic period. This can be done by upgrading the General Hospital Toro to a Federal Medical Centre or provide the hospital with more facilities as well as staff in order to save lives.
Ukasha Rabiu Magama, Toro Local Government Area,
Bauchi State
