Dr. Adeoye Oyewole and Dr. Samuel Adebayo. PHOTO: Punch
Some medical doctors have raised alarm over the fact that the
economic crisis plaguing the nation has affected the health sector.
According to The Punch, the doctors warned that if the country’s
fortune does not change for good, more private hospitals may shut down
due to low patronage.
They expressed concerns that mortality rates might soar, as many
patients with terminal illnesses such as stroke and diabetes have
stopped their treatments due to lack of funds.
The Punch reports that Consultant Psychiatrist, Dr. Adeoye
Oyewole, complained on Tuesday that patients’ patronage at his private
practice in Osogbo, Osun state, have dropped abysmally.
He quickly noted that the poor attendance recorded at the clinic
was not because such cases had reduced, but rather due to the fact that
patients can no longer offset their medical bills.
He lamented that patients have turned to unconventional but “cheaper” alternatives for their health needs.
“I work both in private and public sectors and I can tell you
that patients are no longer coming. At least before now, the patient
load could be so much such that you have to turn back some cases. But
now, they don’t even come at all. They will rather go to herbalists
whose services are cheaper but deadly.
“One of my old patients stopped his medications and engaged a
herbalist because he could not pay his previous bills, or afford to buy
new drugs again.
“He was rushed in almost unconscious yesterday because he had
attempted to kill a friend after hearing voices that told him to do so.
This young man, who had managed his mental challenges for years while
working, sought the services of a herbalist when he could no longer
afford his treatment,” Oyewole said.
The expert in psychiatry told The Punch that the economic situation
had also increased emergency cases, as many Nigerians now wait till
they are critically ill before they seek treatment.
“Before now, relatives will bring patients when they are seeing
some symptoms of mental illnesses; but now, because they don’t have
money, they wait till the patients have attempted suicide before they
bring them to the clinic.
“I have not seen patients this broke. I have not seen doctors
this broke either. Many Nigerians will drink dogonyaro (neem tree) water
to treat malaria because they don’t have N500 to buy anti-malaria
drugs.”
Corroborating his colleague’s views, the Medical Director,
Daysprings Hospitals, Ajah, Dr. Samuel Adebayo, told our correspondent
that pregnant women now opt to deliver in churches and also in illegal
maternity homes.
Adebayo, a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist, said that
many of the women who had registered at the clinic seek these
alternatives due to lack of money to pay for delivery.
He said, “Patronage has dropped among patients in general; but
it is worse among pregnant women. They now deliver their babies in
churches’ maternity homes under the supervision of unskilled persons.
They do that because they pay little amount of money, even though they
could die in the process.
“Many of them, when I checked their cards, were already owing
the clinic N500 or N1,000 during their antenatal. Do you think they will
come back for delivery? These are patients that had their babies with
us in the past but are forced to seek dangerous alternatives due to the
state of the economy.”
The physician noted that patients with terminal diseases such as
stroke and hypertension, who can no longer pay for their drugs and
treatment now resign to fate.
Adebayo stated that now is the time for government to subsidise
health insurance coverage for Nigerians in the informal sector, as
patients can no longer afford out-of-pocket payment for health services.
He said, “I have a hypertensive patient who had stroke and was
brought in unconscious a week ago. We needed to do a CT scan of the
brain, but the family didn’t have money for the test. They also could
not pay for a neurologist to assess his brain. The relatives took the
patient home to die after I stabilised him.
“They brought him back some days later. I managed him and he was discharged this morning without making any payment.”
These are also challenging times for managers of public health
institutions. It was gathered that government subventions have crashed
by 80 per cent in some federal hospitals.
The Chief Medical Director, Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital,
Yaba, Lagos, Dr. Richard Adebayo, said the hospital’s monthly overhead
allocation from the Federal Government has dropped from N14m to N2.9m.
According to The Punch, Adebayo, who spoke on Tuesday, said the
hospital had yet to receive funds for capital projects this year.
He said, “Instead of our overhead allocation, which used to be
N14m every month, we now get between N2.9 and N3.2m. We have not
increased our charges because most of our patients will not be able to
pay. We want to generate more revenues internally, but it’s a challenge
because we don’t do surgeries.
“We’re grateful that our salaries are being paid and we
understand the fact that government is also not finding it funny because
of dwindling price of crude; but the financial climate is biting us
harder than harmattan.”
Adebayo urged governments to adopt genuine public-private partnership initiatives to address the challenge of funding.
He also called on the Federal Government to be prudent in its
spending, in order to make room for funding of important projects in the
health sector.
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