No fewer than 500 private hospitals across the country have been forced to shut down due to current economic hardship within the last six months.
Dr. Kay Adesola, National President Association of Nigerian Private Medical Practitioners (ANPMP) at a press conference in Makurdi, Benue State, during the association’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting.
According to Adesola, the affected hospitals ceased operations due to the inability of patients to pay for treatment, inadequate capitalization of the National Health Insurance Scheme, and the cost of energy.
“Hospitals are shutting down because when you have to give a service to someone and you think you deserve to be paid N8,000 but the person can only struggle to pay you N1,500 or N2,000, how many people are you going to do that for? You cannot afford to pay your workers. If they try to manage the first month, by the second month, they will leave the place. And when they leave you cannot run the hospital alone. Of course, they (hospital owners) will now feel this is not rewarding, it’s stressful and frustrating so they close shop.
“There are so many reasons why they close shops. And we hardly get any support or help, instead, an average private hospital on its own will be like a local government as they will be the one to source for their own energy, water, security, and so on. The hospital on its own is overburdened; despite that the government still sees them as places where they should make money.
“By the time you face all these challenges not many people can survive it. That is why many of them are shutting down. Talking about the number, I may not be able to give the exact number but out of 13,000 (facilities), at least in the last six months, it can’t be less than 400 or 500 across the country that has closed shops.
“And it is not as if something has stopped that trend. We are afraid because if you go to government hospitals now, there are not enough personnel so you can’t access service the way you want. And the private that is very ready any time, we are now getting reduced in a growing population,” he said.
The NEC meeting was hosted by the Benue State chapter of ANPMP.
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