On a Thursday in August, an elderly woman gripped her daughter’s hand for support as they slowly descended the stairs. They had just seen a doctor at the Medical Out-patient Department (MOPD) in a one-storey building of the 131-year-old General Hospital, Odan, Lagos State.
Onlookers outside the clinic’s waiting area watched the frail patient’s hesitant steps with empathy. The hospital does not have facilities for people with mobility issues or special needs.
“We have been coming since last week for cardiovascular reasons. People her age should be attended to downstairs, but unfortunately, their MOPD is upstairs,” the daughter said, declining the reporter’s request for their names. 
One of the onlookers, Kazeem Babalola, 65, escorted a family member to the facility. He said he had used the hospital since he was a kid.
“It ought to have developed beyond this as the oldest hospital in the state. Instead of properly renovating and equipping it, they patch and paint. Last year, if you remember, a doctor died at the doctor’s quarters. It was a preventable death caused by negligence.
“A state like Lagos shouldn’t be managing buildings over 100 years old. What if this old woman falls?” Mr Babalola said.
The general hospital was founded in 1893 as a British military hospital and was strategically located between Broad Street and Marina on Lagos Island. It was handed over to the Nigerian government on 1 October 1960, Nigeria’s Independence Day, and later to the Lagos State government on 7 May 1967 after the country was split into 12 states by the military administration of Yakubu Gowon.
