State House clinic to start charging patients

State House Permanent Secretary, Jalal Arabi, has announced that the State House medical facility will start charging patients for its services to arrest its financial decline.

In a press statement signed by State House Deputy Director of Information, Attah Esa, Arabi said the clinic's free medical services to patients is no longer sustainable.

He said that the new measure to start charging patients will reposition the facility to offer even better services as it would boost its revenue in addition to the government's allocation.

The statement read, "The Centre is the only health centre in Abuja where patients are not required to pay any dime before consultation.

"In other government hospitals in Abuja, patients are required to pay for consultation, treatment, laboratory tests and others but that has not been the case with the State House Medical Centre.

"The Centre offers free services, nobody pays a kobo for hospital card, consultations or prescriptions and this has taken a toll on the subvention the Centre receives from the government.

"We have some of the best equipment in the country. For instance, to maintain the MRI and other scan machines, we spend close to N2 million monthly. Yet we do not charge a dime for those who require MRI scans in the clinic."

Speaking about the clinic's new plan, he said, "We have already created a NHIS desk at the clinic where patients will be required to authentic their profile. If their HMOs are registered in other hospitals they will be required to transfer to the Centre.

"This is another way through which we can boost revenue generation at the hospital and this has started yielding results because the stark reality is there is no free lunch anywhere."

The new measure is considered to be a response to recent criticism of the State House clinic's administration by President Muhammadu Buhari's daughter, Zahra.

She took to Instagram last week to lament about the state of the clinic which lacked medical supplies despite its huge budgetary allocation of N3 billion.

She posted, "More than N3billion budgeted for the State House clinic and workers there don't have equipment to work with? Why?

"Where is the money going to? Medication only stocked once since the beginning of the year? Why? State House Permanent Secretary please answer.

"Why isn't there simple paracetamol, gloves, syringes… Why do patients/staff have to buy what they need in the state house clinic?"

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Arabi dismissed the allegations, saying the number of people the clinic caters to is overwhelming for its resources.

"I know people will insinuate and give all sorts of reasons because they don't ask but it will be foolhardy and madness for anybody in his senses to defraud a medical centre of a kobo and toying with people's lives.

"No sane person will do that, so the truth of the matter is the hospital is being run on subvention and appropriation; if it comes we pile the drugs; but the truth is the drugs are always overwhelmed by the number of people who use the Centre, because it is not controlled," he said.