Patients at the General Hospital, Gbagada, Lagos, have accused health workers at the institution of perpetrating various underhand dealings to rip them off.
Investigations at the hospital by our correspondent revealed that some of the health workers allegedly usually arrange with private hospitals and medical centres, where they refer patients from the General Hospital, only to later collect “commission” deducted from the inflated bills such private health institutions must have given the referred patients.
Our correspondent also learnt that some of the tests that should have been conducted on the patients at cheaper rates at the General Hospital’s laboratory are usually transferred to arranged private hospitals and medical centres, where the patients are made to cough out double the normal fees for such services at the public hospitals.
It was also learnt that some commercial transactions usually take place among the health workers at the General Hospital’s wards, as many of them trade in the drugs and other medical consumables not exhausted by the patients who bought them. They are alleged to always sell these unused or left-over medical consumables to unsuspecting new patients at the hospital.
Our correspondent gathered that desperate nurses at the hospital even beg for the left-over of medications from patients and then sell it later to new patients at a higher price.
Some pregnant women, who go for antenatal clinic and delivery at the General Hospital, said under condition of anonymity, that the nurses at the hospital usually collect money from them to assist them to buy needed items, but they would only return with some of the items missing and claiming that they had been used by doctors in the theatre.
Narrating his experience, a patient at the hospital, Mr. Owolabi Adesanya, said he went to the hospital to do some check-ups concerning his severe chest pain, but after paying several visits to the hospital without being attended to, he was eventually referred to a private hospital, where he paid a “huge” amount of money to run a test.
Adesanya said, “I was feeling severe pain in my chest; so I was told to go to the General Hospital to see a doctor to know what was wrong with me; I did so. I went to Gbagada General Hospital to book an appointment with the doctor, when I finally got to see the doctor, after several unsuccessful visits, I was referred to a private clinic (names withheld) to run two tests; that is stress test and the other normal test.
“The doctor wrote his name on the referral slip and signed on it. He already knew the price of the test; so he told me it was N22,600, but when I got to the private hospital laboratory, the attendant there told me it was more than that amount. So, I went back.
“I went back a week later with the money and I met another attendant there and she confirmed the first price, which was the amount the doctor told me. But I wondered why I was referred to a more expensive place to do my test, when it could have been done at the General Hospital, because they have a laboratory, as I was told by a nurse I met. The test was too expensive.”
Speaking in the same vein, a patient, Mrs. Shola Adesina, who was on admission at the General Hospital because she just delivered a baby through Caesarean Section, said she watched how the nurses were doing their “trading transactions” in the left-over of the drugs and other medical consumables in the wards.
Adesina alleged that the nurses would “desperately beg” the patients to hand over to them their remaining drugs and other medications when being discharged from the hospital, adding that the drugs were later sold to new patients in desperate need of such medical materials.
Private hospitals request for doctors at public hospitals, who refer their patients to them, at the end of every year to compensate them. So, these private hospitals increase their fees since commission will still have to be deducted
She further said that because of the hope of getting such “favours” from the patients, they always willingly submitted themselves to be sent on errand by the patients.
Adesina said, “I just put to bed through a Caesarean Section and I was asked to stay in the hospital for a proper observation. During these periods, I watched the transactions by nurses in the wards. They even serve as link to other nurses in other wards.
“When I wanted to give birth, they asked us to buy something. My husband told me that while he was rushing to buy the item, a nurse quickly asked him what he wanted to buy and that she could get it for him. Since he was desperate, he gave her money to buy it and it was very expensive, but he did not mind because it was very urgent.
“How I got to know about this transaction was because I was admitted after I put to bed. The patient beside me was about to leave and the nurse asked her for the remaining drips, injection and drugs; that she would not need them again. After then, a new patient came in and the same nurse offered to buy her the prescribed medication. I saw that she did not go out to buy the drugs. She just went to pick it somewhere; then I remembered that she kept the left-over drugs.”
She also alleged that the nurses also served as link to other “sellers” in the other wards, saying, “There was another instance of a patient who was about to go for a CS. She paid for the medication with the hope that the nurse would bring it before she would be taken into the theatre because nurses are not allowed in there during operation. But the nurse did not come back.”
A patient, who pleaded anonymity, told our correspondent that when patients were referred from the General Hospitals to private hospitals, “the medical worker would indicate his name on the referral slip. If the referred patients goes to do the test there, the private hospital would contact the doctor to give them a commission from fee paid by the referred patients.
“Private hospitals request for doctors at public hospitals, who refer their patients to them, at the end of every year to compensate them. So, these private hospitals increase their fees since commission will still have to be deducted.”
But the Public Relations Officer of the Gbagada General Hospital, Mr. Adeoba Adeniji-Adele, expressed shock at the allegations, saying investigations would be launched immediately into the
claims.
Adeniji-Adele said, “If there is an allegation like this, we want to know the name of the person involved in such so that investigations can be carried out. This type of issue is very serious; when we hear such we take actions immediately.
“Concerning the conducting of tests, it is wrong to refer patients to private hospitals unless we do not have the equipment. The issue of collecting commission will be looked into immediately.”
