Operators of private hospitals in Enugu State have accused the state government of exploitation through multiple taxes, saying the development would, in the long run, increase the cost of accessing medical care.
For this, the Director of Eastern Nigeria Medical Centre, Mrs. Ifeoma Okeke, has appealed that the state government review the multiplicity of taxes imposed on private hospitals.
She said that privately run hospitals were stifled by multiple taxations, as some government agencies and ministries imposed different taxes on them, including ESWAMA, environmental, fumigation and hospital inspection charges.
Okeke said that while these hospitals battled to offset the levies from these bodies, government, through the Ministry of Health, had recently forced additional charges for registration of mortuaries and laboratories on hospitals.
She said: “The state ministry of health sent us a letter directing that all mortuaries in private hospitals be registered. The registration affects other sections in private hospitals, including laboratories, pharmacies and maternities.
“The mortuary will be registered with the sum of N200,000, with annual renewable fee of N100, 000. The laboratories are to be registered with N100,000, and renewable with N50, 000 annually. We do not know yet the fee for registering pharmacies and maternities. These are arms of Eastern Nigeria Medical Centre, which has already been registered and renewed with N50, 000 annually.”
She said that government needed to consider private institutions as partners in the development, as against hounding them in an effort to generate revenue, adding, “The multiplicity of taxes imposed on private hospitals is becoming worrisome. Does government want to run us out of business? In other climes, private institutions are encouraged by the government because we are helping the government take care of its people.”
Okeke said that the idea of registering sections of a hospital separately was inimical to growth, noting that some of the hospitals employ more than 140 staff, and government needed not enforce policies that would put people out of jobs.
She said that the hospital registered as a non-profit voluntary agency was originally planned as a 98-bed hospital but “developments in the sector has reduced it to 50 beds. We are finding it difficult because of what we see in this state, but we have the confidence that Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi can turn things around for good.”
