30th January, 2017
Some Chief Medical Directors (CMD) of hospitals in Kwara are lamenting that the economic situation in the country is negative affecting their operations as many patients are unable to pay their bills.
They said that the situation had made some of the hospitals, mostly the private ones, to incur huge debts in recent times.
The CMD of Surulere Medical Centre, Prof. Rabiu Yinka, who spoke to newsmen in Ilorin on Monday, attributed the development to the current economic recession in the country.
Yinka, who is a Consultant of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in the hospital, said that some patients had even left their babies in the hospital because of their inability to pay their bills.
“There had been several occasions where patients could not pay their medical bills.
“It is happening everywhere even at government-owned hospitals where you find many patients who have been there for several weeks after their treatment and are medically fit to be discharged because they can’t afford the medical bills.
“Most of these people, if they could find a way of escaping from the hospital, of course, they will,’’ he said.
The medical practitioner noted that the problems had affected the effective management of private hospitals and payment of staff salaries.
Yinka urged the government at all levels to, as a matter of urgency fix the economy of the country.
The CMD of Ayodele Hospital, Dr Ayodele Joseph, said that the hospital had incurred a huge loss as a result of this development.
He said that some people had successfully absconded from the hospital because they could not afford to pay their hospital bills.
The medical practitioner appealed to the government to equip the federal hospitals and make adequate provisions for personnel to curb the problem.
Dr Owolabi Jones, the CMD of Owolabi Care Hospital, said that private hospitals were helpless in the situation of patients’ indebtedness.
He said that there had been several instances where patients were brought to the hospital critically ill or had sustained serious injuries and had to be treated without money.
“We were left with no choice but to treat first to save lives and at the end, they found it difficult to pay,’’ he said.
He lamented that the running cost of the hospital had increased by 50 percent yet there were outstanding debts incurred by patients.
Jones urged the government to provide steady electricity and water supply to reduce the cost of running private hospitals.