THE SITUATION

An-Nadaa Hospital in Tudun Wada, Zaria, Kaduna State is the first refuge for thousands of families across this region. Beside clinical services, the hospital pioneered some of the hard-to-get laboratory investigations, such as 3D and 4D ultrasound, upper GI endoscopy, sigmoidoscopy, and digital radiography, some of which are only available at the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, a major public tertiary referral center for Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, and neighboring states. Prior to this development, it could take 5 – 10 days to book and get an endoscopy and 2 – 3 days for special ultrasound.

Cost is also another factor that disproportionately affects low-income households, which constitute more than half of the households in Tudun Wada, where An-Nadaa Hospital is located. An-Nadaa Hospital is a source of relief for many, not only for accessible healthcare, but also in a Shari’ah-compliant environment. In such an environment, the skills, hope, compassion and courage of doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers is necessary. But courage alone cannot see inside a skull. Dedication alone cannot reveal what is bleeding. Hope alone cannot save a life, and referral could mean transport expenses that is out of reach.

An-Nadaa Hospital aspires to provide for the people of Tudun Wada and the surrounding communities, the same standard of care available to any Nigerian in a city hospital. This is not a request for luxury. This is an aspiration for equity and equal standard of living, through quality and accessible healthcare services, regardless of economic status or geographical segregation.

Between the Unending Queue and the Deadly Distance

CT Scan and MRI are critical diagnostic investigations that have become increasingly inaccessible to many households due to distance and cost. In the whole of Kaduna State, with a population of over 10 million people, there are less than 10 locations where CT Scan and MRI can be done.

In Zaria, with a population of over 1.5million, only Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital has the required equipment to offer CT Scan and MRI services. The cost, distance and waiting time often discourages patients. The only other alternatives are located in Kaduna City, about 84 kilometres away. Under good road conditions, that is about an hour's drive. In practice, with traffic, ongoing construction works and diversions, as well as the challenge of securing transport in an emergency, it is often 90 minutes to two hours.

For a patient suffering a stroke, those 90 minutes are catastrophic. Medical science tells us that every minute of delayed stroke treatment causes the death of nearly two million brain cells. For a patient with internal bleeding following a road accident, the delay is potentially fatal. For a child with suspected brain trauma, the journey itself – jostling in a private car with no oxygen, no monitoring equipment, and no trained attendant— is a life-threatening ordeal.

Every kilometre is an expensive delay. Every hour delay is an hour of wrong treatment or no treatment. Every wrong (or no) treatment is a step closer to an avoidable tragedy.

Even when families successfully navigate the distant journey to the nearest scanner, they encounter a second barrier: cost. CT scans in Kaduna range from ₦40,000 to ₦120,000. MRI scans cost between ₦80,000 and ₦150,000 or more — before consultation fees, transport costs, or accommodation for accompanying family members.

For a farmer, a market trader, or a civil servant in Tudun Wada, these figures represent weeks or months of income. Many families face an impossible choice: spend money they do not have, or wait and hope. And while they wait, Kaduna's facilities — overwhelmed by patients from across the state — add hours of queuing to an already critical delay.

THE CRUSHING BURDEN

Costs That No Family Should Face

Even when families successfully navigate the 84-kilometre journey to Kaduna, they encounter a second barrier: cost. CT scans in Kaduna range from ₦40,000 to ₦120,000. MRI scans cost between ₦100,000 and ₦250,000 or more, before consultation fees, transport costs, or accommodation for accompanying family members.

For a farmer, a market trader, or a civil servant earning a minimum wage of N70,000 per month (~$55), these figures represent months of income. Many families face an impossible choice: spend money they do not have, or wait and hope. And while they wait, the facilities, overwhelmed by patients from across the state, add hours of queuing to an already critical delay.

These are not imagined scenarios. They are the lived reality of families in these communities, today, right now, as you read these words.