Garkida town, a community considered to be a Missionary settlement of the Church of the Brethren Mission (CBM) of Gombi Local Government area of Adamawa State has produced eminent Nigerians occupying sensitive positions across many fields of endeavors.
This community hundreds years ago, the visit of Dr.Stover Kulp, a missionary with the Church of the Brethren Missionary (CBM) established the Garkida General Hospital which opened on 11th May 1924, marking 100 years of establishment Today has touched and transformed the lives of many people in Not only the then Gongola state but the entire Northern region.
An Elder Statesman from Garkida, David Garvwa commended the courage Dr Stover and his wife took to visit their land a century ago by establishing the hospital that it was named Ruth Memorial Hospital, Stover’s wife who died with her baby while giving birth in their first year of arrival in Garkida.
The Garkida General Hospital until its takeover by the Governor in 1973 remained one of the foremost Medical Centres in the North East Sub-region
“As we celebrate its Century of Service we remember those Missionaries who left their comfort zones in America to not only establish the hospital but provide the Doctors and Nurses who served and trained the local Medical permit for the Hospital among others.” He said
This medium contacted Engr Nimrod Musa who is a beneficiary of the CBM hospital in Garkida, Commended the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria (CBN) and the missionary that laid down their lives to save millions of people in Nigeria.
According to him, there’s no notable Nigerian from the North East region of the country that’s not a beneficiary of the Garkida General Hospital because of the first-class treatments for leprosariums skin disease and other related sicknesses.
He said Garkida today because of CBM missionaries produced Great Men and Women in all fields of endeavors that are adding value to Nigerian’s economy.
Another beneficiary of the Hospital, Dr John Dauda showered encomium on the founder and the vision behind the establishment and said the hospital saved the lives of many people who are today professors, engineers, medical Doctors, business tycoons, and notable politicians in Nigeria.
“The remarkable and systematic contributions of Garkida community in the area of transformative services like education, health, agriculture, women, and other rural mobilization programs for the past 101 years, are not only exemplary but legendary.
“Garkida General Hospital, in particular, played a leading role in not just providing health services but in effective and efficient health care delivery services, and the supervisory role it played in the popular COB Rural Health Development Programmes brought it out as a center of excellence in terms of improving greatly Primary and Secondary health care, not only in its core areas of coverage but beyond.” He said
He continued to say that the courage, determination, resilience, and total sacrifice of Dr.Stover Kulp and his team in identifying the historic and listed town of Garkida and selflessly initiating the process and program that effectively impacted directly the lives of the various ethnic groups of the entire North East sub-region, known as Lardin Gabas they will ever be eternally grateful.
They called for concerted efforts by way of special consideration to match Garkida’s prime significance in a story by upgrading the General Hospital’s facilities to all well meaning Nigerians especially those from Adamawa State.
The General Hospital which has a unique history of supporting the primary health system in Nigeria and serves as a reference encouraged by the late Professor Ransom Kute, who is known as the father of Primary Health Care in Nigeria, for application on a national scale.
The General Hospital has a pioneering role, virtue, significance, and immeasurable contributions to effective and efficient healthcare delivery in the North East and beyond, its strategic location is still serving hundreds communities in the whole of Adamawa State.
Engr Nimrod said the government should upgrade the hospital’s facilities and the town generally to meet international standards and that could attract international attention and high patronage to the advantage of Adamawa State and as well result in the comprehensive renovation of the famous Laprosorium Center Dermatology Hospital.
It’s a known fact that the hospital has a unique history and existing good structures, the government needs to seriously consider, and take advantage of possible corresponding benefits to the historic center which will ever remain a source of pride and inspiration for all irrespective of the ethnic or religious divide.
Recall that Late Prof Kuti actually initiated the National Primary Health Care after he studied CBM-EYN Rural Health Programme when he visited Garkida. The Garkida LeprosoriuLeprosariumwa State Dermatology Centre which was also founded by the Missionaries 5 years after the Garkida General Hospital received a bill from the Nation Assembly in 2019 to become a National Dermatology Centre is waiting for the Presidential accent
