Too Many Patients Can’t Afford Hospital Bills, UCH Cries Out
UCH Ibadan
Ademola Babalola in Ibadan
Health care givers at the University Teaching Hospital (UCH), Ibadan,
have called for help for the numerous patients currently on admission
with little or no means to pay their hospital bills.
To this end, corporate organisations, public-spirited individuals and well-meaning Nigerians, especially philanthropists, have been called upon to assist the hospital in its service to humanity by donating drugs and medical equipment to augment government’s efforts.
Speaking through the Head of Department, Hospital Services, Mrs. Grace
Logun, while receiving donated drugs and medical equipment from an
Ibadan-based philanthropist, Mr. Adeniyi Oladeinde, at the Otunba
Tunwase Paediatric ward of the hospital over the weekend, the hospital
lamented the rate “at which people were dying as a result of poverty and
inability of the hospital to cope with the demand of many indigent
patients who come to the hospital with no money in their pockets.
“The UCH management is putting forward its best. But, honestly, there is no way we can treat the legion of indigent patients we have in the hospital with the little resources we have. We simply do not have the financial wherewithal to provide free healthcare service. We have had many occasions that the doctors and nurses contribute money among themselves to buy drugs in order to save lives,” Mrs. Logun said.
While thanking the donor for the kind gesture, Logun disclosed that the hospital was not in the habit of rejecting patients, hence the introduction of the Payment Deferment Scheme, just to ensure that lives are saved first before settling the medical bill.
Earlier, the Chief Nursing Officer at the children ward, Mrs. Ronke
Bello had condemned what she called the poor attitude of some parents to
children’s welfare, saying some parents bring their sick children to
the hospital at a terminal stage even without money in their pocket.
According to Bello, “there were many children that had died needless
deaths because their parents could not afford basic drugs, besides,
parents’ attitude towards their children is poor. The attitude is
always, “ if the child dies, we will give birth to another one,” but
when an adult is sick, they will look for money to take care.”
Bello said, “can you believe that parents rush their sick children to
this place with only one hundred or two hundred Naira in their pocket
and that may even be after they must have administered various
concoctions on the helpless child. When the hospital asks them to go and
buy certain drugs, they will say they have no money. That is why we
approached people like Oladeinde to assist.”
Responding, the donor, Prince Adeniyi Oladeinde, said he was touched
when he was told that children were dying cheaply because their parents
could not afford basic drugs as a result of poverty.
He recalled that he himself had lost a child in the hospital following
unavailability of drugs and called on government as well as well-meaning
individuals to come forward and assist people in need, saying if people
could organise lavish birthday parties, they could as well donate
syringes and drugs that could save lives of the vulnerable.
Promising to do more for the children ward, he warned that the drugs
must not be diverted to other wards, but should be used for the
children, saying, “it may interest you to know that I was born in this
ward.”
Various basic drugs and medical equipment as well as disposables worth a
million Naira were donated with the officials showing gratitude to the
donor, saying the donation will go a long way to salvage the situation.
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