Internally displaced women and children at Gongola IDP camp, Abuja have begun getting medical treatment after a Daily Trust story titled “When antenatal is luxury: the IDP story”.
In the course of reporting the story on Migration and Climate Change, a Daily Trust reporter spoke to pregnant women, most of who were in the second or third trimesters, but had yet to begin antenatal classes.
The women also suffered cases of toilet infections which also meant their partners would most likely be in the same situation.
Upon submitting the story, the writer decided to carry out an investigative report on the state of available facilities for internally displaced in the FCT.
The reasons they gave for not going to the hospital were that they were supposed to use Asokoro General Hospital but that it was too far from their camp along Abuja’s Airport Road and transportation cost was biting deep into the already lean resources of those who had attempted to go there.
Another reason was that, the hospital medical staff were also refusing to treat them.
As part of investigating their claims and what facilities were available to them in the FCT, the writer contacted the FCT Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) about the matter.
A staff who unofficially explained the process to our reporter said, the IDPs were eligible to receive free medical services at the Wuse and Asokoro general hospitals upon presenting a referral letter from FEMA.
Going by this our reporter went with Jummai, one of the internally displaced to FEMA, where she picked her referral letter.
But upon arriving at the Wuse General Hospital, she was turned back. She made a call to our reporter who had decided not to go to the hospital with her.
The brashness of the staff’s voice telling her, “There is no space. We don’t have space,” was better imagined. Jummai’s case was not one needing hospitalisation – if this is what the staff meant by ‘no space.’
The writer related the episode to the FEMA staff.
As part of investigating their claims and what facilities were available to them in the FCT, the writer contacted the FCT Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) about the matter.
A staff who unofficially explained the process to our reporter said, the IDPs were eligible to receive free medical services at the Wuse and Asokoro general hospitals upon presenting a referral letter from FEMA.
Going by this our reporter went with Jummai, one of the internally displaced to FEMA, where she picked her referral letter.
But upon arriving at the Wuse General Hospital, she was turned back. She made a call to our reporter who had decided not to go to the hospital with her.
The brashness of the staff’s voice telling her, “There is no space. We don’t have space,” was better imagined. Jummai’s case was not one needing hospitalisation – if this is what the staff meant by ‘no space.’
The writer related the episode to the FEMA staff.
A week after, the staff got in touch with her to come with the women to pick up their referral letters with which they could go to Wuse, for treatment.
The staff said, they had been in touch with the hospital and all had been sorted out for them to be attended to.
The first set of women, seven of them and a baby, received their referral letters.
Three of them and the baby were treated at the Asokoro General Hospital the same day while the other four, including Jummai, were treated a week after in Wuse.
Another batch of seven women and three children has also subsequently been treated at the Wuse General Hopsital.
This story was done with support from Code For Africa.
