Zulum Uncovers Extortion in Health Centres

Michael Olugbode in Maiduguri

Borno State Governor, Professor Babagana Zulum, during a sting exercise at two government healthcare centres in Maiduguri, the state capital, discovered that some officials were extorting patients by collecting between N8,000 and N10,000 for services which were supposed to be free.

A statement issued by the spokesman to the governor yesterday, Mallam Isa Gusau, said his principal disguised his convoy and visited some government healthcare centres unannounced, where he found some officials collecting between N8,000 and N10,000 from patients, whereas the services are meant to be provided free of charge.

According to Gusau, the governor, who had summoned the state Commissioner for Health, Mrs. Juliana Bitrus, asked her to join him on a 10-seater bus usually used for airport services, and took her along on a sting operation.

He said the governor left the Government House around 1:30 p.m. without any convoy and siren, leaving everyone surprised and wondering.

Gusau said the health commissioner was not even aware of what lied ahead, as she was not told of the plan by the governor.

The governor subsequently led the team straight to the newly established and fully equipped primary healthcare centre at Gwange II ward in Maiduguri, and found that some workers were collecting between N8,000 to N10,000 before diagnosis and treatment were conducted on patients for even malaria.

The statement quoted the governor to have said after the sting exercise that: “The staff members we met here (at Gwange II, PHC) confirmed that they used to collect between N8,000 and N10,000 from patients to treat malaria.

“In fact they have turned this Government Health Centre to a private hospital, and this is why the centre has been deserted by the people who mostly do not have the money to access services here. The workers just collected money and put it in their pockets.”

Zulum subsequently directed the Borno State Primary Healthcare Agency to thoroughly investigate, identify all the culprits and take appropriate disciplinary actions.

He was also to discover at the Gwange II PHC that it has only one medical staff on ground to attend to patients despite having 29 health workers on the payroll of the state government.

Reacting to this, the governor said: ‘You can imagine that at 2:00p.m., this primary healthcare centre we built and fully equipped is empty (because of extortion, and without medical staff). This level of impunity cannot be tolerated. The earlier we address it, the better for all of us.”

Zulum later proceeded to a similar primary healthcare centre at Gwange I, but had a pleasant experience.

At the Gwange I, he found medical workers on ground attending to patients without extorting them.

The governor, who was apparently delighted, commended the staff for being upright.

“Since we came in 2018, we have paid salaries and pensions as and when due, and we are steadily reducing even the arrears we inherited from the previous administration.

“To show commitment, we just devised a strategy to ensure that those under the Contributory Pension Scheme and whose entitlements are from N100, 000 to N500, 000 were paid up to December 2020. Also, we have taken those from N501, 000 to N1millon, N1million to N1.5million and N1.5 million to N2million, and we are not relenting. In the last two months, we have paid over 300 contributory pensioners.

“From 2018 to date, we have expended about N40billion to cater for our senior citizens. This is a demonstration of love and commitment to our senior citizens, and we won’t relent. Rather than resort to civil unrest, we appeal to our senior citizens to show understanding and be more patient with the government,” the commissioner added.