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Brief Historical Background of Katsina General Hospital.

Formal Medical Services in Katsina is said to have began in the period between 1907 and 1910; shortly after the appointment of Alhaji Muhammadu Dikko as the emir of Katsina, It was actually a brief medical service in the form of simple treatment of scab and dressing of wounds at a soldier's camp of the British West African Frontier Force (WAFF)then stationed at the outskirts of Katsina. Dr. Player was the Medical Doctor attached to the camp at that time, while Mallam Nuhu Hadejia, apparently an ex-service soldier from the WAFF assisted him as an attendant. A small dispenary was subsequently opened in a government residential area near the soldiers' camp.Seen the possible benefits for his subjects, the emir Alhaji Muhammadu Dikko keenly send patients(often compulsorily for treatment). When Dr. Player fell ill and was taken to Kano, Mallam Nuhu Hadejia was left alone to carry on with the work. Although, he was an illiterate (in the western education) he could nevertheless identify or recognize medicaments and drugs by their smell or odour. The emir helped them with cotton and locally-woven material, 'farin Saki'for use as improvised bandages and lint. When the soldiers' camp was moved elsewhere, Mallam Nuhu Hadejia moved his dispensary into the town at a place around Unguwar Madawaki. He continue to treat people until 1922 when a small hospital was opened somewhere behind the present location of Katsina General Hospital.