SNAKE ISLAND: Over 20,000 residents with no functional health centre, no power supply
In Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s mega city of Lagos is a community called Igbologun, but known popularly as Snake Island; not that it is a haven for snakes. The area is home to over 20,000 residents who have no access to a single government functioning healthcare centre.
Located along the riverine area of Amuwo-Odofin Local Government Area of Lagos State,
Snake Island is accessible through water transportation from Coconut Island end of the Tin can Island area of Apapa.
Mothers in this community lament the needless deaths of their infant children for lack of healthcare; even husbands also watch helplessly when their wives groan in labour of childbirth.
The Daily Times correspondent who spent time in with the people recently, observed that besides the very important need of healthcare, the people have no motorable roads, no drainage system, no potable water and no power supply. The environment itself is a dirty mosquito breeding threat.
Our correspondent also observed that, in every three houses, there is at least a pregnant woman, yet they lack a functional health centre to offer pre-natal and post-natal care to them, even to people in the surrounding riverine areas.
However, a private medical practitioner, Dr. Sodipo Gbolahan was moved to establish the Igbologun Medical Centre (IMC) which has been striving to meet the healthcare needs of the residents of the community and environs five years ago.
A close source at the hospital told The Daily Times that in the five years of IMC in the community, it had been observed that pregnant women in the community and environs would rather have their babies at home or visit Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs). “They only come to the centre when they have emergencies or complications. The women prefer to stay at home and deliver their babies or patronise Traditional Birth Attendants and only come to the centre as a last resort,” the source said.
This claim was corroborated by Mrs Juliet Kakpo, 20, who had come from Sagbokodji, one of the riverine communities around Igbologun to seek medical care for her baby.
She had thought the condition of Pascal, her 18 months old baby, would get better after administering herbal concoction to treat his sudden, irregular movement of the body, caused by involuntary contraction of muscles; but when his condition deteriorated after a month, she and her husband, John Kakpo, 32, had to rush him to a Traditional/herbal doctor in Sagbokodji, where they also lack a health centre.
After four days, the native doctor told them she couldn’t treat their son’s condition and advised that they take him to Igbologun Medical Centre (IMC), privately owned by one Dr Gbolahan.
“When we came here, we were told my baby lacked blood and the doctor and the nurses teamed up to help him survive.”
Kakpo described the TBA’s place as dirty. “Some of the children taken there end up dying for lack of appropriate medical care, but because I didn’t have enough money on me, I had to take my baby there even though, we were told they could not treat his condition.“I used to be a tailor but I have no job anymore. My wife has ear impairment and can’t speak well,” he said.
Mrs Kakpo who is some months pregnant said, “Whenever my son catches cold, I always use herbal concoction for him but this one is beyond my power and I had to rush him here.”
Charity Felix, 32, also came for delivery at IMC from one of the nearby communities. She fell into labour at mid-night.
“One of the midwives brought me here because they said I would need operation. I needed. When I came here at about2am, the doctor attended to me even though my husband, for superstitious belief, didn’t want me to have a cesarean delivery, but I was already between life and death and he had no choice than to sign the paper.
“Dr Gbolahan was God sent; he treated me without any deposit and my baby and I survived. My husband has gone to source for money to pay my hospital bills,” Mrs Felix, the mother of two other children, explained.
In tears, she said life has been very hard on her family; “We have no job; to feed once in a day is hard; even to pay house rent is difficult. My mother left me 11 years ago. I don’t even have a phone to reach any member of my family.”
She however called on the government to help the riverine community by providing health care facilities.
“Even though I registered in another community for ante-natal at the TBA, because I had my two other children at an Ijaw woman’s place but when there’s problem at night, it is difficult to get a boat to cross over to get to the hospital here. We don’t even have light, water and no road. Government should please come to our aid.”
Another nursing mother, Elizabeth Luke in her twenties said she came in around 4am in a boat. “Crossing from Sagbokidji to this place costs N500 but I thank God the doctor could save my baby and I.”
When The Daily Times visited the Chief Imam of Igbologun, Oseni Saka Olaribigbe, he acknowledged that his people are suffering untold hardship because of lack of government presence. “We face a lot of challenges especially our pregnant women and children. Due to the peculiar location of our community, going to neighbouring communities to get health attention is difficult as there is no means of transportation except using the boat.
“Consider those situations when people fall ill at night and the only private doctor here cannot handle it; or when our women fall into labour at night. Sometimes the children take ill at nights and almost dying. There are about 36 communities around us and Igbologun is at the centre, yet we are in this predicament.”
Going back memory lane, the Chief Imam said, “when the Igbologun Maternity Centre was commissioned in 1988 by the then Military Governor of Lagos State, Captain Okhai Mike Akhigbe, we had doctors but now, we have just two nurses but the centre is now just a building.
“There are frequent emergencies and complications, especially for pregnant women and children. We need a hospital or a functioning health facility that will cater for the need of the communities in this riverine area. A health facility, at least, will help our women deliver safely.”
On the health centre in the community, the Chief Imam said centre does not have enough equipment to carry out their services and there’s no doctor, except for nurses who come on weekdays from 9am to 3pm, at most 4pm. “So what happens when they are not around? Meanwhile, there are limitations to what the nurses can do.”
The Baale of Igbologun, Chief Amusu Alao Gegeiyawo said, “this community needs a health facility that will be equipped to take care of our health needs.”
He said, he had been to Amuwo Odofin Local Government to complain but there has been no positive move to help them.
“We plead with the present administration to remember us. We need water, light, clean environment and health centre.”
A pregnant woman, Mrs Oladipupo said, none of the pregnant women in the community could go to the government built health centre for care.
“Most of the times, when we visit there, we buy drugs that are meant to be given for free. When you tell them the drugs are to be given for free, they say, they pay their way here so we have to pay for the drugs. Despite that, one won’t get the necessary treatment, so I had to go to a private medical centre.
“The nurses at the government owned health centre come and leave whenever they like. Even if there’s a patient who is critically ill and has to be admitted, the patient would be told to go home. This is saddening. It is better the government come by themselves to see what we have here. That centre has been there since but there has been no monitoring and it is not functioning.”I was eager to locate where ambulance cannot reach-Dr Gbolahan
Dr. Sodipo Gbolahan, a private medical practitioner who built his medical centre after hearing of pregnant women dying from pregnancy related problems in the riverine communities, granted The Daily Times audience. Below are excerpts that highlighted the humanity government must address.
How was the beginning like here?
It all started when I was a doctor at Tolu Medical Centre at Olodi Apapa. At a particular time, I was in charge of three pregnant women who always come for medical attention and they said they come from Igbologun. Afterwards, one of the 3 women came around to say one of them died.
According to her, she had visited one nurse in the community before her death. That same year, one of them too lost her baby because there was nobody to attend to her in the night and I told her that they should have called me and she said ambulance can’t get to Igbologun. That got me worried and I was eager to locate where ambulance can’t reach.
That same day, I visited Igbologun. I went round and I couldn’t find any hospital, but someone directed me to the primary health centre here, and when I got there, there was no doctor. Then, I thought of establishing a medical centre here. During that period, my wife wasn’t feeling fine during her pregnancy, so she had to travel abroad. That same month, I resigned.
When I came here, they told me a doctor came and ran away. According to him, the people were not encouraging him because they don’t have money, but I decided to give it a trial. I rented a 3-bedroom flat with my last salary, there was no bed. I just put a signboard outside stating: ‘A qualified doctor now around. Check.’ Most of them know me when I was working for Tolu Medical Centre.
That was how I started gradually; it was encouraging because people were coming, they didn’t pay for card. What I did was to calculate the money for drug and add N500 for the treatment. The second month I had more than the salary I was earning at my former place of work. Afterwards, I got this building. I had to buy beds from the hospital I worked for and I bought baby couches.
What are the common diseases you treat?
The common illness here is convulsion, anaemia and severe malaria, vomitting, because the environment is dirty; there’s no good water. And for the pregnant women, it is bleeding. During delivery, they have contraction, obstructed labour, they have had abortion resulting in complications.
What kind of situation did Mrs Charity and Mrs Luke come with?
Charity was brought in by a female Traditional Birth Attendant; she’s one of the women that attend to the pregnant women where she came from. One day, I met the TBA inside boat and I spoke with her. I told her to talk to her people that instead of sending the pregnant women with complications across, they can send them to me.
When they send them across, they can actually die inside the boat before getting to the hospital across.
So she brought Charity around 2am and she had been in labour for some hours and was already weak. When I checked the baby, it was already distressed so I told them we would do a CS.
They refused initially and wanted to go, but the husband gave it a second thought that if he took his wife out of my hospital, there was no other place he could go because he didn’t have money. The baby had pooed and the cord was around his neck.
For Luke, she was brought in by another TBA. I was surprised her baby survived, though the baby had jaundice, but we were able to treat the baby.
Looking at the hospital, it seems overwhelmed, do you think there’s anything the government can do to help?
Government can do a lot of things. There are communities around here, they can start with three communities, like Ibeshe, Igbologun and Sagbokodji; and when they have built a health centre, they should ensure that people monitor it.
Can you clarify your use of TBAs because I know there are skilled TBAs recognised by the government and unskilled TBAs. Which are you referring to?
The problem is that I don’t know which is skilled and which is unskilled. Before I came here five years ago, they go to the TBAs. There, they can have 10 patients and six may survive while 4 will die. There are good TBAs but they have to know where to draw the line.
