NOHIL expresses worry over N30m debt by patients annually

The management of the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, Lagos, NOHIL, has lamented huge debt owed by some patients, saying it records about N30 million non- recoverable debts annually.
Meanwhile, the hospital has reeled out activities to celebrate its 70th anniversary in Lagos.

At a briefing to mark the 70th anniversary of the hospital billed to hold December 17, 2015, the Medical Director, of the hospital, Dr. Oluronbi Odunubi said the debt had hindered effective healthcare delivery at the hospital.

Activities to mark the 70th anniversary include health walk, free medical screening and treatment, public lecture and a novelty match.

According to him: “We have about N25 million to N30 million non-recoverable debts owed by various patients, who cannot pay for their treatments and this has affected our services in a way.

“This is a care centre, so we don’t ask for money before treatment. The policy guidelines of the hospital forbid that we ask for money before we treat our patients.

Odunubi further lamented the dwindling allocation from the Federal Government, adding that in the last few years only about N2.9 million is allocated to the hospital.

Even the allocation we receive from government is also dwindling. Before, we used to receive about N7 million, but now, we receive less than N2.9 million, which is grossly inadequate to settle our bills.

He further pointed out that subvention cannot even cover for the NEPA which runs up to N3.9 million monthly and diesel of almost N4 million monthly.

“We pay NEPA bill of 3.5 million, diesel almost 4 million every month we have to look for other ways of generating funds or else services will be over priced.

“The reprieve we get most often is when philanthropists and private individuals decide to offset some of these bills, and this we get mostly during festive seasons,” he said.

Continuing, he disclosed that said the hospital would concentrate more on training and research to make it a referral centre for other trauma centres in the state.

“We will be looking at making this hospital a centre for referral activities where we will concentrate more on advanced cases of trauma management and training of post-graduates.

“We currently have placement for residency training to enable the doctors to come here for their post-graduate programmes,” he said.

The medical director recalled that the hospital was designated as a rehabilitation camp for wounded soldiers during the World War II in 1945, but later changed to become a world class centre.

“The hospital was then named the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital in 1956, after which it was transferred to the Federal government in 1975.