Indigent Nigerians lack access to universal healthcare – Shonowo

Despite the existence of general hospitals, Medical Director/Founder, Shonowo Hospital, Agege, Lagos, Dr. Samson Shonowo, has lamented that indigent people in the country do not have access to quality healthcare services.

Shonowo in an interview with The Guardian said this was why he decided to offer free medical services to this category of Nigerians.

Shonowo, who worked at Ilepo General Hospital, Ilepo, Lagos, for seven years before resigning, said that during the period, he discovered that a lot of indigent Nigerians do not afford medical services, even though it is a general hospital.

He said: “After people had been diagnosed of a particular ailment, they would go out to look for financial assistance. But by the time they return for treatment, their cases would be complicated or even resulted in untimely death. My advice is for those who need medical attention to see their doctor, rather than dying in silence,” Shonowo said.

The Surgeon added that he had been conducting free surgeries for patients suffering from hernia, breast lumps, prostate cancer and fibroid since 2016.

He said this was his way of giving back to society, adding that over 1,000 patients had benefitted from his free surgical interventions.