Secret Reporters No place to hide
Secret Reporters
With the continuous wailing by concerned citizens over the pitiable state of most government-owned hospitals contributing to the high mortality rate across the country and with no significant measures taken to solve this societal decay, most medical practitioners who are supposedly indispensable tools in the life-saving race have in recent times added to the misery of these citizens as they have turned their humanitarian duties into money-making ventures.
Sources from the Federal Medical Center (FMC) Asaba squealed to SecretReporters that medical practitioners allegedly mandates patients to make various payments apart from stipulated hospital bills especially the payment of a mandatory delivery bag imposed on pregnant women before they can be attended to.
This online news medium also gathered that a patient who was admitted at the general hospital, Ibusa, Asaba and later transferred to the Federal Medical Center (FMC) Asaba due to her critical pregnancy condition which needed immediate medical attention received the shook of her life as she was compelled alongside the husband by the medical personnel on duty to pay the sum of Thirteen Thousand Naira (N13,000) in exchange of a delivery bag before any medical care could be administered to her.
The delivery bag issued to this patient was said to have contained two (2) delivery pads, hand glove, delivery mat, one antiseptic (Dettol) with few items which many patients who are victims of this illegal extortion lament is not even close to the actual value of the items thus not worth the amount charged for the “bag of fraud”.
In addition to that, the medical practitioners allegedly demanded the payment of four (4) pints of blood from the husband as his wife needed to undergo blood transfusion because of her low blood level which he obliged by donating a pint of blood and paying for the other three. Shockingly, only the donated pint of blood was finally used while the other three were concealed by the medical personnel on duty who also refused to refund the payment made by the patient’s husband upon inquiry.
“That was how I came to the hospital and the doctors and nurses compelled me to pay for the delivery bag for thirteen thousand Naira (N13000) despite telling them that I already have the items contained in the bag”, one of the victims lamented.
Deltans especially those who had fallen victims of this illegal extortion hereby call on the relevant Health Regulatory agencies to look into this anomaly as many patients who are being referred to or admitted to the Federal Medical Center Asaba on daily bases receive all manner of harassment from the medical personnel at the center when they fail to comply.
