The establishment of the Ibom Specialist Hospital was greeted with joy by the people of Akwa Ibom State and Nigerians in general. The hospital which became operational few years ago has the following areas of specialty: anesthesiology, audiology, dermatology, back and spine, endocrinology, colorectal surgery, cardiology, diabetes, etc.
Majority of the specialists working at the hospital are foreigners or at least foreign trained medical experts. The expectation is that the establishment of the hospital will reduce the number of medical trips the elite undertake abroad.
A hospital that was built by the state government from public funds is now technically an exclusive reserve of the rich.
Registration fee at the hospital is N10, 500 for the Indigenes of Akwa Ibom State and N15, 500 for non-indigenes. This initial registration is to last for 2 weeks. Upon expiration, a patient (indigene) revisiting the hospital for treatment is to pay N5, 250 while a non-indigene is to pay N7, 250. These payments are exclusive of expenses a patient may make on lab test, scans, etc. In fact, it has been rumoured that full medical bills at the hospital run into millions of Naira.
With this type of high cost of medical treatment, one is forced to ask the follow questions: Was Ibom Specialist Hospital built by public funds, and if yes, why the high cost of medical treatment? How many ordinary citizens of the state, with the current minimum wage of N18, 000, can afford treatment at the hospital?
It is strongly contended that Ibom Specialist Hospital, being an institution set up by public funds, the current charges for medical treatment are extremely high and adversely affect the medical interest of common citizens in the state. The current charges is as if the hospital was built, and is run, by private and not public funds.
It may be argued, in some quarters, that the high charges are necessary and expedient given the advanced medical services offered at the hospital, the cost of bringing in foreign doctors, etc. I beg to disagree with such view.
For a hospital that was built, and is run, by public funds, the medical charges at the hospital are too high and serves no interest of the common in the street, but only that of the rich. The use of public funds to build the hospital implies that it is built for the people, and it defeats the purpose of establishing the hospital where the people the hospital was built for cannot go there for medical treatment. With the minimum wage of N18, 000, the current charges are unfair.
Moving forward, the state government should reduce the current high cost of medical treatment so that the hospital can accommodate ordinary citizens, thereby meeting the purpose of its establishment. The hospital should not be made a revenue-generating establishment. In truth, public institutions that dispense pure public and people-oriented services like hospitals should not be made to operate with the philosophy of revenue-generating institutions just as the Ibom Specialist Hospital is being made to operate. Government should generate revenue from other sources and use same to subsidize and service healthcare delivery. The rich should be taxed and the money derived therefrom be channeled towards provision of public services.
Second, the state government should put in place insurance policy for healthcare. Health is an issue that affects everyone, and as such should be given pre-eminence. Such policy will help reduce the cost of medical treatment.
Third, free medical services should be provided for the indigent and the aged. If the law would provide free legal services for the poor, how much more free medical services? It is learnt that the policy of free medical services were introduced some time ago by the last administration, but it is not certain whether this present administration has retained the policy. Even when the policy was introduced by the last administration, it has been contended that the policy worked more on paper as the medical services rendered were not totally free.
On the other hand, the policy is said to have faced some challenges. One of such was the issue of identifying the aged people that were entitled to the policy. It is learnt that some people lied about their age in order to benefit from the free medical services. This challenge is surmountable however. The aged should be caused to produce their birth certificate and where they do not have, they should be made to tender their affidavit of age declaration. Before making the declaration, they should be made to understand the legal implication of lying under oath.
As for the indigent, their means should be measured just as the law (Legal Aid Council Act) set standards for those who are to benefit from free legal services. Same standards should be adopted in this case.
Health is life, thus issues concerning the health of the citizens should be taken seriously and be made affordable by the state government. Infrastructural development, no matter how meaningful, is meaningless where there is no health, nay life, to enjoy it. The state government should as a matter of urgency reduce the cost of medical treatment at the Ibom Specialist Hospital. But until the reduction, Ibom Specialist Hospital, as it is currently run, is a palace for the elite.
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