University Health Services

The Main Campus Arm: Physical Facilities, Electricity And Water Supply

The U.H.S. main block houses:

• An administrative arm
• An emergency patient stabilization/ four-bed in-patient admission room
• The pharmacy shop
• The waiting corridor
• Two injection rooms
• An autoclave room
• The medical record section
• Seven consultation rooms
• Eye clinic room
• ENT clinic

The building is facing structural problem and leakages.

The Cappa block serves the Tuberculosis clinic and wound dressing room alone. It can not be used for admission because of structural problem and leakages. It could serve ten beds for in patient. The second block that was intended for delivery suite is being renovated for the University HIV centre.

The most recent block built in 1990 is used for:

• Ante-natal clinic.
• Child Welfare.
• Family Planning clinic.
• Pathology laboratory.
• Two dental surgery rooms.
• Dental therapist room.
• Dental x-ray room.

It should be noted that right now the Ante-natal clinic covers for 90% of women requiring ante-natal services but zero percent in both intra-partum and post-partum services. It requires only a delivery suite to render these services. The latter has never been used due to lack of the machine.

It is also remarkable that there are no offices for Doctors, no staff common room and no conference room. At present the medical Director uses his consultation room to double for administration. And request for computerization is awaiting response. No intercoms facility and a small reading room.

Electricity And Water Supply

With the new 100kva auto switching generator installed in 2003 the power supply will be very adequate if repair is made on the switching system and good supply of diseal is maintained. However there is the need for adequate light points for reason of security and replacement of air conditioners. The water supply is inadequate and needs serious attention.

Public Toilets

These facilities are inadequate for the clinic. Several requests were made to the Central Administration.The target is to go beyond a sick-bay to a youth friendly health centre (A sick-bay is a place where ill patients are seen by a health teacher or school nurse and kept under observation pending referral to a hospital or been sent home). The main campus clinic is now almost a complete health centre like in most Nigeria Universities in terms of manpower but for size and facilities.

Other Clinics

The Main Campus clinic has a satellite branch at Institute of Administration, Kongo campus that offers similar medical services to both staff and students. Other affiliated clinics are IAR clinic, NAPRI clinic and Division of Agricultural Colleges’ clinic at Kaduna and Kabba. Also until 1991 clinics at ATC Kano and Zaria, College of Agriculture, Bakura were part of the University Health Services. There is a proposal for a satellite clinic at Arewa House Kaduna.

The NAPRI clinic is located at Shika and has seven staff. It is headed by Assistance Chief Nursing Officer. There are two trained community health officers. The clinic runs two shifts with a night call. All cases that require admission are referred to the main campus sickbay. There is an existing ambulance service. Most of there mentally ills are attended at Salalanke village by a well known traditional practitioner.

The IAR junior staff clinic is located at Area 3 Quarters and the staff comprises of 3 Nursing Officers, 2 Record staff and 3 pharmacy staff. The clinic is headed by a Chief Nursing Officer.

Medical activities include the treatment of common diseases, conduction of ante-natal and post natal clinics where an average of 40 patients are seen per day. Difficult cases are referred to the Sickbay.

The clinic serves mentally ill patients are often referred directly to the psychiatry department of A. B. U. Teaching Hospital. Some of their basic drugs are often provided by the clinic. One of such patients absconded from orthodox treatment since the past two years for a “curative” traditional treatment.

The D.A.C. clinic with two staff is headed by a Community Health Officer. It serves the staff and student population mainly. Treatment of common illness and wound dressing are taken here while difficult cases are referred to the sickbay. They attend to 20 to 40 patients daily. There is no ambulance service.

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There is emphasis on preventive health and curative medicine with curative care expansion such as the following:

1. From a mere consulting clinic the sickbay is now almost a health centre. The section is now more equipped than ever before, the one-bed emergency room expanded to a four-bed emergency room, also rehabilitated/reconstructed is the ten-bed general and five-bed maternity wards. An ENT clinic has already begun. There is full rehabilitation of the clinic at Kongo campus too and an Ambulance was purchased for the clinic. Arrangement is on to put a 10-bed facility for the campus, thereby making it a 24 hour facility in order to reduce the suffering of the student. Also the two Ambulances for the main campus have received full refurbishment including two Station Wagons for the Department. More recently efforts are being made to start a maternity care with the construction of a delivery suite from one of the old CAPPA buildings. Arrangements are also made to use the other block for in-patient admission. Realizing improvement in our services we see more patients trooping in for assistance as shown by the tables below.
   

   TABLE I: UTILIZATION OF HEALTH SERVICES

   YEAR	EMERGENCY ROOM	ANC	FPC	CWC	OPC	Eye clinic	Total
   1998	8730	1735	320	9015	38991	754	59545
   1999	10315	1700	232	6981	49982	241	69451
   2000	10,000	1895	336	4992	51309	1974	70509
   2001	12,100	2952	424	3529	50640	239	69884
   2002	13825	2788	600	1800	49551	2111	70675

   
   

   UTILIZATION OF DENTAL SERVICES

   YEAR	NO. OF TREATMENT
   1998	2366
   1999	3139
   2000	4175
   2001	3974
   2002	4221

   
   
2. In order to improve efficiency of the services, there was employment /training of more doctors. In the main sickbay there are six permanent medical officers with two having Masters in Public Health and one on training. We thank the administration for developing a mechanism which now retains doctors; the unit is no longer a mere transit camp for doctors. The Centre has an ENT specialist running a clinic, the only one in Zaria. Following the constitution of a mental health committee by the Vice Chancellor, a mental health clinic will soon take off.
   
   
3. The laboratory section overseen by a laboratory scientist employed in 1998 now carries its function more regularly and has acquired more equipment microscopes, deep freezer, calorimeter and glucometer. A microbiologist was also employed two years ago. So far it has more than ten new tests on its list. Prior to its improvement the community really suffered in the hands of the proliferating low standard laboratories with various consequences on the already suffering patients. With these improvements, we are becoming more efficient and effective as indicated by the throngs of patients attended to daily.
   

   UTILIZATION OF LABORATORY SERVICES

   YEAR	NO. OF TESTS
   1996	3909
   1997	9217
   1998	15055
   1999	18909
   2000	14743*
   2001	15372*
   2002	15805*
   2003	9809*

   
   * - Period of strike in the University, sometimes with closure of University Health Services
   
   
4. The Pharmacy section now has a drugs information subsection and carries out some drugs compounding which was stopped many years ago.
   
5. The Health Services are more effective and efficient too with the installation in 2003 of an auto switching 100KVA generating set solely for the UHS. In addition a process is in place to procure a new dental set.
   

   TABLE 11: SUMMARY OF ENVIRONMENTAL INTERVENTION MEASURES IN A.B.U ZARIA (1997-2001)

   Year	Refuse trucks	Tractors	Lawn mowers	Raw Water tanks	Slasher	Trailer	Garden tanks	Public toilets	Refuse dump
   1997	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
   1998	2	2	5	0	2	2	0	0	0
   1999	4	3	11	0	2	2	6	4	0
   2000	4	4	16	0	2	3	27		0
   2001	5	5	16	1	4	5	40	0	4

   
   
6. In the area of community nutrition we are happy too that ABU farm and the University abattoir are receiving attention. Sanitation campaigns mounted by the Vice-Chancellor in Samaru village have made remarkable impacts. Lots have been achieved with a programme already established in the community and a cordial relationship with the administrative wing of Sabon Gari Local Government.
   
   
7. Ahmadu Bello University, (both Samaru and Kongo campuses) is now a garden with several parks and green areas developed by this administration making a resort. The garden is rich with varieties of draught resistance flowers such as Ixora, Murraya, Ficus benjamina etc mostly raised in our nursery. The Central Administration launched a tree planting campaign in August 1998. So far more than 50,000 varieties of indigenous trees were planted. This is with the hope of protecting the entire University environment, particularly A.B.U. Dam catchments area, provision of nutrition and economic support, and for full relaxation and health. A borehole with permanent underground garden irrigation network at the Main Gate and several wells were sunk to provide raw water to the parks and gardens. This is apart from the five raw water tankers and water pumps that transport raw water from the dam as shown in Table I above.
   

   TABLE III SUMMARY OF SIZES AND NUMBER OF TREES IN THE NEWLY CREATED PARKS

   S/NO	LOCATION OF PARKS	SIZE	NO. OF TREES
   1.	Kontagora Parks	13 hectors	6000
   2	Tudun Sarki Parks	20 hectors	7500
   3	Koraye Park	10 hectors	7000
   4	Niger Forest Park	5 hectors	4000
   5	NUGA Village Park	10 hectors	2100
   6	Area F/BZ Park	7 hectors	5000
   7	Area C/G Park	5 hectors	3500
   8	Date Pam Park	7 hectors	2000
   		TOTAL	56000

   
   
   
8. The entire University community and its neighbours now get regular immunization and vaccination. For example, within the last five years, all staff and students received cerebro-spinal meningitis vaccination annually.
   
   
9. Clean water supply is now maintained via-chemical and bacteriological test done to ensure conformity with WHO’s standard through controlled farming activities along the Dam by implementation of “No Farming Order”, there is remarkable control of chemical and organic pollution of the Dam.
   
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