Catalyzing Health Facility Improvements in Bauchi State, Nigeria: Transferring Know-How

by | Dec 6, 2018 | Nigeria, TCI News

Dr. Adamu Mohammad, project coordinator of NSHIP in Bauchi. Photo Credit: Yakubu Soro

In Bauchi State, the 72-hour clinic makeover – one of The Challenge Initiative’s high-impact interventions – has become instrumental in the overhaul of the public healthcare sector. The approach provided Bauchi with a cost-effective way of renovating and equipping healthcare facilities, without interrupting service provision. Just a week after TCI helped Bauchi make over the Family Planning Units in five facilities, the State applied the approach to other sections of three out of the five facilities on their own through the Nigerian State Health Investment Program (NSHIP).

After hearing about the makeover approach, NSHIP’s Project Coordinator in Bauchi State, Dr. Adamu Mohammed, was immediately interested in it.

“When TCI presented the approach to us, we told them we could adopt it,” he said. “The concept reflected what we were trying to achieve with our project design which is about decentralization, giving ownership of the health facilities to the communities and addressing their issues with little resources but great impact.”

Mohammed said after meeting with TCI, they planned to make over other sections of three facilities  of the five facilities identified for makeover by TCI; they planned to conduct this additional makeover at the same time with TCI so that they could be commissioned together, but a delay in finalizing their business plan prevented that. 

However, this delay didn’t stop NSHIP and Bauchi State. As soon as the plan was finalized, they made over other sections of the Wuntin Dada primary healthcare center (PHC), the Yelwa Domiciliary and the Bayan Fada PHC following the TCI guidance. Mohammed said NSHIP intends to continue to use this approach and added he saw no need to modify the model.

“I know this is a good concept [because] we can replicate it as we scale up to the rest of the facilities. When you do a renovation like this, you are going to cut a lot of cost and monitor the renovation work with great results,” he said. “This model is needed to develop our communities and make the lives of our people better. We are not going to modify anything; we will do what we saw TCI do because the approach reflects what we want to see happen in our communities. It not only improves services in the facilities but also empowers the people economically since all the materials and artisans are locally sourced. We are so convinced of the model and we will advocate to some partners that are working on renovations to adopt it.”

And those working in the facility are pleased as well. Aisha Saidu, a family planning service provider at Wuntin Dada PHC, said “This 72-hour clinic makeover is a very quick and clean concept. Everything happened in a flash and our hospital became new again.”

“This is the most effective way to change the face of healthcare services in our communities. After TCI finished their renovation and we discovered it worked well, we decided to use this approach when NSHIP gave us funds to renovate our facility. We started ours on Friday and today, Monday, we have finished everything. We are very happy with this approach. All those politics and long process of awarding contracts has been cut out and a facility is renovated in 72 hours. It’s wonderful and the community is very happy! Some people in the community heard about the renovation and came just to see it. We have two women that came yesterday by themselves to get counseling on family planning because they heard the family planning unit is renovated and looks beautiful, comfortable and private. We hope we are going to be involved in other things that TCI and the government are doing together in Bauchi State.” 

Aisha Saidu, a family planning service provider at Wuntin Dada PHC