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How much will healthcare cost

By Ewamo Aibangbee, Abuja.
04 April 2016   |   4:17 am
Sir: I was having a phone conversation with my mum the other day and she happened to be quite upset about the fact that two people she knew who had been ill for a couple of...

Healthcare

Sir: I was having a phone conversation with my mum the other day and she happened to be quite upset about the fact that two people she knew who had been ill for a couple of days and bedridden were unable to go to the hospital because they had no money to pay for consultation and treatment.

On hearing this, as a public health professional I got even more upset than she was. In this present day and in a very rich country like Nigeria, how could people not have any spare money to take themselves to hospital when terribly ill and secondly why should a basic hospital consultation be so out of reach of the people?

What is happening in the country? Is our lack of accountability so bad that the system is not concerned about people dying daily in their homes because they do not have ‘money’ to go to the hospital? There is gross disregard for lives. It is every man for himself despite the fact that we have leaders who we seemingly voted into power to look out for our best interests. Well, to carry on with the story, my mum gave out some money – a few thousands each and a few days later they returned happy and much better to say thank you. If an individual could make this sort of change happen for people; an individual who is not in power, who is not responsible for the lives of the people, how much more our leaders?

That same day, I had cause here in the UK to visit my General Practitioner (GP) to get some repeat medication for my kids. The visit to the GP was free, I got the prescription for free and the medication for free for as long as I intended to use it. This free GP consultation is for everyone irrespective of age or social class. No wonder people are so desperate to leave our country Nigeria.

Change would only begin to happen when our leaders make the lives of the people their responsibility, when one wealthy man takes the plight of the less privileged around him as his responsibility and when the wealth of our great nation Nigeria is put to work for the benefit of the people.
Think about it.
Ewamo Aibangbee,
Abuja.

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