The Gauraka Model Primary Health Centre, a Level 2 facility and Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) focal centre, is failing pregnant women across more than 30 communities in Tafa Local Government Area.
A Nigeria Health Watch investigation has revealed the following conditions at the clinic:
- Operates only 12 hours daily due to lack of electricity
- No functional delivery room lighting – staff use candles and phone torches for night deliveries
- Only one delivery bed available – most women deliver on the floor
- No running water, non-functional toilets, collapsed septic tank
- Persistent drug stock-outs
- Leaking roof and cracked walls
- Severe shortage of clinical staff
Rose Yakubu, Officer-in-Charge of the facility, confirmed:
“We use candles and phone lights for labour at night because there is no electricity. Women deliver on the floor because one delivery bed is not enough.”
Residents report that pregnant women now prefer traditional birth attendants or auxiliary nurses running patent medicine stores because the clinic is either closed at night or unable to provide basic care.
Sai’edi Sule, a Gauraka resident, told reporters:
“Our only options are traditional birth attendants or auxiliary nurses who run medicine shops. At the clinic, the long wait is discouraging, and at night, no one is available.”
Village Head Mallam Zakarin Jibrin stated that the community contributes money to keep the clinic running but the situation remains beyond local capacity.
The clinic receives BHCPF funding. Some renovation work (floor tiling and minor toilet repairs) has been carried out, but essential services remain unavailable.
Health workers say the combination of infrastructure decay, drug shortages and staffing gaps is driving preventable maternal and newborn complications.
Gauraka Model Clinic serves Gauraka town and surrounding communities including Apo village, Gwazunu and Nassarawan Iku.
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