Hospitals increase prices due to economic crisis

According to Punch, hospital owners, doctors, pharmacists and patients have blamed the increase in service costs on the ongoing recession.

“We used to charge N100,000 for emergency Caesarean Section but it is now N150,000. I was shocked when I travelled to Lagos the other day to buy some consumables for the hospital and I found out that their prices had changed. In fact, I could only buy half of what I needed. It was that bad,” Dr Segun Adeniran, the Medical Director of the Light Heart Hospital in Ilorin, Kwara State told Punch.

“Even the doctor that assists me with the surgery has asked for an increment. The price of the anaesthesia for patients during surgeries has shot up. It is either I increase the price or I shut down my facility,” he added.

Segun Adetiba, a pharmacist operating in Lagos also confirmed the situation to Punch.

“The prices of drugs are rising. Many are even scarce because the importers can’t get enough foreign exchange to bring them in regularly anymore. We do not manufacture many of the medicines we sell in this country,” he said.

“Patients are complaining bitterly and we can’t help them. Some can’t even pay, as they beg you to take N200 for N500 for anti-malarials. Pharmacists are really affected because while a doctor can deliver a woman of a baby with just his/her skill, a pharmacist cannot just dispense his drugs,” he added.

The crisis has also led to a sharp increase in the price of food items in the country due to a rise in the cost of production.

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Meanwhile, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Godwin Emefiele has said that the recession will be over by December 2016.