Background and Objectives
For many years now, the quality of medical care for the average Nigerian has deteriorated. Officially the federal government runs a subsidised health care system. But this is failing completely.
Doctors and other hospital staff are underpaid and therefore under motivated, most medical and diagnostic equipment are in a state of disrepair, materials and reagents for simple laboratory tests are scarce, and most medicines in pharmacies are substandard, expired, and improperly stored. Crippled by power, infrastructure, water shortages, and inadequate funding, all in all, government-run (public) hospitals cannot provide high-quality basic health care to its people.
Some private clinics are however in a position to provide high-quality health care, but these services are beyond the financial means of most Nigerians, since the majority of the population lives below one dollar a day.
The overall aim of the project of the CO Foundation is to make high- quality basic health care available free of charge for the underprivileged people in North- Nigeria. To accomplish this CO Foundation is collaborating with an existing programme being run in Almadina Clinic, an OPD in Zaria, a town of approximately 1 million inhabitants in the northern part of Kaduna State.
Charity activities commenced in January 2001. The clinic is linked to Almadina Pharmacy and Clinic, a wholesale and retail outlet which started business in 1996.
The OPD is well-equipped with three consulting rooms, an emergency treatment room, a record room, two toilets, a store and a standby plant for power supply. The OPD is open 7 days a week. Qualified doctors work in different shifts to attend to patients. A internal consultant, a gynaecologist and an ophthalmologist come to work in Almadina several times a week to provide specialist assistance.
The OPD has a well-equipped laboratory in which a wide range of tests can be conducted on blood, sputum, urine, and faeces samples. At the same time an ultrasound (donated by the Rijnstate Hospital in the Netherlands) and an electrocardiography machine are available. The lab is staffed with a microbiologist, a lab technician, and a lab scientist. The adjoining pharmacy offers a wide range of high-quality medicines, sourced directly from reputable and licensed pharmaceutical companies. The pharmacy is staffed by a superintendent pharmacist, pharmacists and sales assistants.