4 Months Without Running Water at University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital: Patients Forced to Buy Sachet Water for Treatment

Ilorin Teaching Hospital in Kwara State has been without running water for four whole months, putting patients and their families in a really tough spot. It’s incredibly difficult, and many have no choice but to buy small plastic bags of water, known locally as "pure water," just to get by. This water is now essential for basic tasks like washing, cleaning, and even helping medical staff during treatments.

When SaharaReporters visited the hospital last Thursday, they saw family members buying bags of this water. It’s become a necessity for almost everything, including keeping things hygienic. The situation is so bad that the mosque right there on the hospital grounds is also using the sachet water for religious rituals.

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"I’ve been here for five days, and yes, there’s no water," one patient’s relative explained. "We buy a bag of pure water for N500, and it’s what we use for nearly everything, including in the restroom."

The water shortage has affected multiple parts of the hospital, like the emergency ward, specialist clinics, and the physiotherapy area. It's left patients and their families doing their best to help out the staff, who are feeling the pressure of this situation too. Some medical workers have even confirmed that without enough water, it's tough to keep things clean, with one lab employee saying, "We can't even wash our hands after procedures anymore."

What's even more worrying is that the lack of water has sometimes forced the hospital to turn patients away or send them to other facilities for care. As one staff member explained, "We've had to send people to other hospitals, folks we normally would have treated right here."

Hospital management says the problem is because of issues with the power supply, which has messed up the water system. But a lot of people aren't satisfied with that explanation. Take one hospital cleaner, for example, who said, "This has been going on for more than four months, and nobody's fixed it."

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This ongoing water crisis at one of Nigeria's leading teaching hospitals has serious people asking if the hospital can really provide good healthcare services and meet basic hygiene standards anymore.