Patients, caregivers lament as AKTH hike services fees

With patients from all over Nigeria and as many more from neighbouring countries like the Niger Republic, Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH) in Kano state has been attending to the health needs of millions of patients but recently, most of these patients are now in a fix on whether or not to continue with the hospital or seek for alternative following the recent increment of charges on almost all services rendered by the hospital. Patients and their caregivers have said this has pushed them to the wall. But the hospital management said the upward adjustment must be accepted by the people owing to the fact that the hospital does not operate in isolation from the economic realities in the country. Daily Trust Saturday reports.

Lubabatu I. Garba, Aminu A. Naganye & Sadiq Adamu (Kano)

Patients and caregivers have continued to lament the recent hike in the services fee and other services by the management of the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH), describing it as a move to deny them access to quality health services.

They said it was alarming that AKTH, which is a government-owned hospital, could decide to suddenly jerk up its fees by hundred per cent in the face of daunting economic challenges further pushing more Nigerians below the poverty line.

Daily Trust Saturday reports that the management of the hospital recently increased its charges for services and treatment with the development leaving thousands of patients and caregivers that daily troop into the hospital from all over Nigeria and as far as the Niger Republic in confusion.

Patients and their relatives told Daily Trust Saturday that the sharp increase has dramatically affected their finances amid the tough economic situation in the country.

A patient at GODP told Daily Trust Saturday that the increase in service fee is well over 100 per cent in some cases. 

Malam Ahmad Adam said he paid N2,300 before his hospital hand card could be replaced after he lost the first one.

“I lost my hand card and I came for renewal, I was charged N2,300. Service fee has been doubled too,” he said. 

Another outpatient, who preferred his identity hidden, corroborated Malam Adam’s stance that fees have been hiked across the board.

“What used to be N1,050 is now N2,100. To see a doctor was N500 before, now it is N1,000. To open a file was N500, now it is N1,000. And they charge N100 instead of N50 for service charge now,” the patient explained.

A caregiver, Musa Jibrin, who was at the emergency unit with his sick relative, said the changes had already impacted negatively on their financial muscle.

“We paid N40,000 instead of N20,000 that we paid in the past and after three or so days, they say your money has finished and we have to pay again. I just pray that Allah blesses us with the resources to pay,” he said.

Another caregiver, who gave his name simply as Abdullahi said, “We were admitted a few days ago and I deposited N40,000 and in less than one week I was told the money has finished. I was now asked to pay another N80,000. Everything in this hospital has increased exponentially. I can’t just understand what is happening. The poor cannot afford to be coming to this hospital for treatment.”

Mukhtar Auwal, whose relative has been on admission in the female ward in the hospital, also lamented the huge amount of money he has spent in the last two weeks.

He added that it was unfortunate that in recent days, the hospital has turned out to be like the expensive private hospitals in the town.

Another patient, who came to the hospital for antenatal, told Daily Trust Saturday that she has decided to leave the hospital for another one as she cannot afford to pay the new charges.

“I do all my antenatal and delivery in this hospital. This is my fourth pregnancy. I didn’t have any idea about the increments until I came now. I will leave for another hospital where I can afford,” she lamented.

Another client, Malam Ado Sale, told Daily Trust Saturday that, “It is now better for one to take patients to a private hospital because what we are experiencing lately has negatively affected the hospital’s credibility, we are now paying almost what the private hospitals are collecting,” he said.

Sale, like others, believes that AKTH being a referral hospital still attends to cases that ought to be taken care of at Primary Healthcare centres and as such, the queue at every service point is always beyond explanation, adding that it is in view of what people normally go through before they get medical attention coupled with the increment in charges that will force most of them to move to private hospitals. He noted that at least in private hospitals, which naturally charge more, a doctor will attend to you almost immediately you get there.

He, however, called on the government to quickly address the situation at AKTH for the sake of the Nigerian masses.

“It is apparent that something has to be done quickly to come to the aid of patients and caregivers in the hospital,” he said.

When contacted, the hospital spokesperson, Hajiya Hauwa Muhammed Abdullahi, said that market forces determined the “just increment” of the hospital services, calling on the public to bear with the situation.

She said the hospital like every other establishment, operates mostly on its generator which uses diesel to supply electricity as the hospital experiences poor power supply from Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO).

“AKTH buys diesel from the same filling station that other people buy from. AKTH spends millions of naira on purchasing diesel every day. We use the diesel to supply power and also to pump the water from our boreholes,” she said, further appealing to patients and caregivers to understand the situation that informed the increment.