If you’re an anxious person, just do everything for fun. Submit documents for fun. Start a blog for fun. Go to a job interview for fun. ANXIETY FEEDS ON IMPORTANCE. Do not make everything a matter of life and deaťh.
Not to Defend Gov. Radda, But to Understand the Trouble We Are In - Yusuf Hassan
The debate around Governor Dikko Umaru Radda’s keke ambulances in Katsina should not be reduced to mockery or partisan defence. This is not to defend Radda or glorify a keke as the perfect ambulance. But it is to say that many people do not fully understand the depth of the health emergency we are facing, especially in Northern Nigeria.
Across the North, almost every major health indicator is pointing in the wrong direction: maternal mortality, newborn deaths, poor access to skilled birth attendance, weak referral systems, distance to facilities, poverty, insecurity, and poor rural roads. In many communities, the difference between life and death for a pregnant woman is not always a specialist doctor first; sometimes, it is whether she can leave her village and reach a PHC or referral facility on time.
The country is currently facing a lot of policy shifts (with the country having the highest maternal mortality rate, with 993 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2023; still far above the SDG target of 70 per 100,000 and the North contributing 128 of 172 LGAs, about 74% of the priority LGAs that contribute to this maternal mortality). That is why emergency transport matters and any intervention to move the needle is needed.
The Federal Government has launched NEMSAS and related emergency transport schemes to address delays in reaching care, especially for maternal and newborn emergencies. States are also expected to adapt these systems to their own realities. In some places, a standard ambulance will work. In others, bad roads, narrow paths and scattered settlements mean that smaller, cheaper and more flexible transport may save lives faster. (The reality of our health facilities is nothing good to write home about). Local government have abandoned them with fewer health workers, the majority being either volunteers or casual. Other countries and communities have used what works for their terrain: motorcycle ambulances, bicycle ambulances, boats, community vehicles and tricycle ambulances. The lesson is that public health is not always about what looks modern, it is about what solves the problem.
The right question is not whether a keke ambulance looks prestigious. The right question is whether it is staffed, fuelled, maintained, linked to PHCs, connected to referral hospitals, and available when women and children need it most. Northern Nigeria needs every practical progress it can get. We can criticise, but we must also be honest. A flawed but functional solution is better than elegant speeches while people continue to die because no vehicle came.
As President Paul Kagame once said, “Before we go out begging for things we may never get, we have to ask ourselves: have we exhausted the resources around us? This is how homegrown solutions start.” That is the policy lesson Katsina, and indeed Northern Nigeria, must take seriously. Solve the problem with what can work today, while building the stronger system we want tomorrow. In public health, dignity is not in the size or glamour of the ambulance; dignity is in reaching care before it is too late.
The bandits kidnapped my younger sister, Shafa’atu Ibrahim. After abducting her in Birnin Gwari, they demanded a ransom of ₦10 million. We were negotiating with them in the hope of reaching an agreement and finding a way to secure her release, but suddenly they called to tell us that they had killed her.
Even after killing her, they refused to release her body unless we paid them ₦2 million. We pray that Allah forgives her, showers His mercy upon her, brings an end to this tragedy, and grants freedom to everyone still being held captive by them.
May Allah hold them accountable. We do not forgive them. 🙏😢
Indeed, to Allah we belong, and to Him we shall return.
Cmr Murtala Ibrahim Xray
I've come with another begging bowl 😞😫.
Hafsat is a 13 year old girl, an IDP from Jibiya in Katsina state, who found herself in our hospital with acute kidney injury.
She has been having fever, body swelling & reduced urine for a month.
She needs dialysis URGENTLY.
She's drowning in her body fluids.
Parents are impoverished.
In fact, the mother's blood pressure is through the roof, likely because of the stress of the girl's sickness.
We have managed to get her enrolled under a health insurance scheme, but they need money for many things that are not available in the hospital.
Please help this family with whatever you can.
For those needing to corroborate the story, I'll get the father's number tomorrow.
Please reach out if you wish to help this patient. 🙏
I need every Nigerian to retweet this and contribute to the cause of saving Maryam’s life, she’s diagnosed with Tetralogy of Fallot with Polycythemia.
She’s currently at ABU teaching hospital SHIKA receiving primary attention.
Yabo da godiya sun tabbata ga Sarkin da Ya sake bamu damar gyara ayyukanmu da neman yardarSa (SWT).
Ya Allah Ka nuna mana gaskiya Ka bamu ikon binta ko akanmu ne.
Ya Allah Ka tsaremu shawara da maqiyi.
Allah Ka hananu aminci da wanda ba zasu fada mana gaskiya ba, ko su waye.
@Roohi_AI @alouibrahim92 Allah promised relief WITH hardship. Not AFTER.
His mercy and grace exceeds whatever our brains can fathom. Subhana Rabbiyal A'la
Parents/teachers,the words we use on children matter and a label can either build confidence or destroy it.
Before mocking a child for struggling academically, ask: "What support does this child need?"
Awareness changes lives💙
Via @PNeuroharmony