Diphtheria controversy: Where Kano HMB’s PRO misfires – A story from the inside

By Ahmad Deedat, RN.

PRO, have you ever visited diphtheria treatment center in IDH? No I suppose!

“…..staff are not willing to put in their best since the stoppage of the allowances despite being Kano Ministry of Health Workers.” Samira Sulaiman. August 24, 2024.
I’m perplexed! How could someone hiding in the cozy confines of their office mislead the public with evidence-less and fact-less data. You’re spreading a forlorn demeanor. Your gesture demonstrates that you’ve never been to this center and your claim is certainly contrary to the reality.

Staff have never been part of your challenging situations in diphtheria management. I made it vivid in my previous write up which is largely concerned with IDH – DTC that, staff were drastically reduced after the exit of NGOs. Yet, the staff left are engaged primarily with the state government in different facilities. This was a carefree indifference demonstrated against the staff. Increased workload and decreased manpower. Going to two different working places at a time – a statement the PRO forgets to mentioned.

Besides, as a gesture of commitment and dedication, the staff have never complained bitterly about their welfare; all complaints tendered were patient-centered.

During the just concluded national protest, a curfew was set and there was a restriction in commercial transportation. Since the first day of the protest, the hospital’s ambulance was faulty. But yet, some of the staff in IDH – DTC did not hesitate to navigate the dangerous streets on foot just to make sure they make it to the center; some of us trekked a ‘hundreds of Naira’ distance on foot just to care for our patients. I wonder , if weren’t for a private vehicle, would you have trekked similar distance on foot; navigates dangerous streets regardless of the time in the day/night? I doubt it. Few professionals other than nurses and doctors would do that, certainly not a ‘PR’!

Nevertheless, the patients and their caregivers could tell better if you’d care to go and do a digging on it. They would clearly narrate a situation where a nurse would did night duty and yet, couldn’t wean themselves off to rest until around 12noon of the following day. Same nurse would still come back on same day for another night shift. The work is killing! I doubt your work as a PR nears the halved stress health workers faced.

“State ministry of health employed 15 Drs for the volunteers.”
Agreed, doctors were employed and deployed to MMSH – DTC. They wouldn’t work in DTC and EPU – a condition they set after assuming duty to which the HOD -EPU boldly disagreed. They were to report to the HMB, ultimately, they were made to choose a facilty they saw fit, hence abandoning the DTC.

“….also deployed other staff who were being paid incentives by MSF to diphtheria unit”.
Who are the other staff?
Base on my acquaintance, before the exit of MSF, over 50 professional nurses were running the shifts at MMSH – DTC alone. A number that characteristically depleted to barely half after their exit. Let alone other departments, most of which the figures left are barely the one-third of their former.

“Drugs and consumables worth millions of Naira were procured…….and distributed to diphtheria centers”.
This is not factual. You could rephrase to ‘worth hundred of thousands, perhaps thousands of Naira’ for better depiction of the reality. Of all the medications routinely prescribed in diphtheria management, only Erythromycin tablet is given for free at IDH; not even consumables are made free. Until recently, after exhausting efforts by the team, some negligible quantity of drugs which barely whisper their presence were given.

“Feeding of diphtheria patients and their relatives continued.”
This is a deception! In IDH – DTC, feeding of patients and caregivers exited with the NGOs. Patients had to prioritize which they would buy: ’food over drugs or drugs over food’. As I mentioned in my previous piece, ‘we have lost so many patients to hypoglycemia than we could count.’ With free food, you don’t presume a tragic death on account of hunger.

“Staff allowance paid for 3 months”. An allowance that’s a mere token or a soft echo, if you like. In IDH – DTC ‘some’ of the staff received allowance few days after the leaving of ALIMA in June. There wasn’t a characteristic explanation. Since then (over 80 days), until this moment, none among the staff has received a single kobo from the state treasury. Besides, some staff didn’t received the previous allowance: the waste manager; a man responsible for managing all of the DTC’s waste; a man who barely gets three square meals in a day hence, not even employed to work primarily with the government. Tell me, do you expect such man to commit himself to a task that don’t payoff? He has a family to feed.

“Less than 30 patients died of diphtheria in the whole Kano State in August.”
Forgive me, but this is false. Not even the doctors or nurses who sit all day with the patients could tell you the actual figures. I stand firm on my ground that over fifty patients died in August alone. Perhaps they could reach seventy or beyond. I had witnessed almost ‘twenty mortalities in 60 hours.’ 5 night shifts for the breakdown of the hours; 12 hours per shift.

What do you expect of the remaining shifts of the remaining days of the month?

I don’t remember the ministry employing a data clerk that would provide statistics. The person giving you the statistics hardly shows his presence, and when he comes he just ask and go without accounting for the actual data. Previously, In IDH – DTC. The man responsible for the statistics was employed by the NGOs, he is not working primarily with the state. After the exit of NGOs, ALIMA specifically, he didn’t received any official explanation regarding his job, he’s off the list of the staff that received the allowance. Just like the waste manager, the data man continued to occasionally pose his presence and voluntarily do the statistics.

Dear PRO, it is unwise to spread a rotten information to the public on a sensitive issue like this. This is a death and life affairs. Before delving into self defense, make sure your part is played well. There’ll come a day when the information you give will be used against you. Prepare for that day, it will certainly come! My ultimate hope is, through my writings, diphtheria would kissed goodbye.

Deedat is no less patriot!
Writes from Kano, Nigeria.
25/08/2024.