Max
07-03-2002, 09:05 AM
At LUTH, There is Hope for the Needy
Vanguard (Lagos)
NEWS
July 2, 2002
Posted to the web July 2, 2002
By Sola Ogundipe
MONDAY Akpan, 23, is an inmate of Ward E2 at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH). He is on admission for treatment of gunshot wounds on his right leg. Over the months, several forms of treatment including minor surgeries had been performed on the injured leg, but relief has been slow coming. The only guarantee of complete recovery, doctors point out, is comprehensive corrective surgery on the deformed leg.
The surgical operation, known as Flap Rotation Internal Fixation for Fractured Tibia was meant to have been carried out soon after his admission, however, since his admission on May 19, 2001, Monday has been running from in vain from pillar to post to raise money. Exact details are scanty, but findings reveal that the cost of the operation apparently runs into several tens of thousands of naira. Since he could not raise the required sum, the operation had to be permanently suspended.
But worse was to come. Considering the nature of his injuries, Monday could not be discharged, he had to remain on admission for monitoring and routine care. In the last 13 months and with no other available option , he has remained a permanent patient of LUTH, subsisting on the goodwill of good Samaritans. According to him, the experience has been everything but rosy. Between the day he was admitted and today, he has amassed a bill in excess of N200,000 yet with little or no hope of raising the cost of the surgery.
"This place is a prison," he confessed to Good Health Weekly in an interview weekend during the launching of the "Friends of the Needy Fund" set up by the LUTH management. "I am trapped here," he continued. "I cannot go home, I have no where to get money for my operation neither can I settle my hospital bills. Most of my welfare benefits have been withdrawn. The hospital stopped feeding me six months ago and I cannot buy my drugs. I have been surviving only on the grace of God and the generous donations of kind hearted people. Nigerians should please come to my aid and help me get out of this bondage."
The "Friends of the Needy Fund" is an initiative exclusively dedicated to cater for the poor and needy patients at the institution. It is meant to guarantee survival of patients like Monday and others like him who do not have to die because of their inability to settle medical bills. The fund will cater for their financial needs while they are under LUTH's care.
A visit to LUTH is all it takes to establish that there are several patients currently languishing in different wards of the health institution as a result of poverty-inflicted bondage. In agony and bitter frustration, their plight was brought to limelight during the launch of the fund, to elicit appeals for compassionate financial assistance for its indigent patients.
Consider the case of Helen Irabor, a 37-year-old woman who was admitted into Ward B1on November 19, 2001 for an undisclosed ailment. Apart from the N6,000 admission fee, Helen has not paid one kobo extra since but has run up a bill to the tune of a whopping N854,000. The case of Dada Muyiwa (42) on admission in Ward B3 for 1st degree burns since Christmas Day last year, is little different. A huge sum of money which he has no hope of raising stands between him and series of skin drafting operations that would restore his skin. To compound his sorrows, he is already owing the hospital N328,700.
Chineze Benedict (41) in Ward E2 for above knee amputation arising from gangrene is also owing LUTH N249,200. He was admitted April 14 last year. In Ward E4 is Nsil Emmanuel Admitted February 7, 2002 for above knee amputation. A debt of N43,900 stands between him and freedom.
There are patients whose indigent condition is further compounded by abandonment and desertion by family members and loved ones. By far the most pathetic is the case of Azeez Balogun, an eight-year-old abandoned in Ward E4 five years ago. Azeez was admitted in April 26, 1997 following a ruptured bladder sustained in the course of a road traffic accident. The plight of Frank Okosun (36) of Ward E2,also comes to mind. He is indebted to the tune of N139,200. One cannot overlook 23-year-old Tosin Ainah, a spinal-cord injury patient of Ward E5 since July 26 last year and abandoned because of a N129,000 debt.
Odunayo Taiwo (25) admitted on October 19, 2001with a head injury from a road traffic accident, and owing N59,500 has also been abandoned to his fate. He cannot go home. Also stranded is James Ubong, a 10-year-old admitted in Ward D2 on June 6, 2002 for severe kerosene burns. Although he has been discharged, he has not been able to return home since the death of his mother on June 16. He is one of the deserted patients.
As bad as these instances appear, more pathetic are innocent infants and children who are suffering in silence as victims of abandonment at LUTH. For instance how does one rationalize the case of Baby Salawu born on April 23, 2002, through emergency Caesarean Section to a mother afflicted by sickle cell anaemia and abandoned shortly after the mother died a month later. Baby Salau withh birth weight 1.12kg and moderate birth asphyxia, has since been under the care of the hospital is owing N17,800. Her relations cannot be traced. Lasisi Yusuf, a six-year-old, admitted in Ward D2 on May 5, 2002 for meningitis cannot go home either because of the inability to pay the N7,500 bill. Suffering similar fate is one-year-old Mariam Tiamiyu on admission in the same ward for meningitis. She is indebted to LUTH for N8,500.
The highlighted cases represent just a tip of the iceberg. Dozens of indigent patients of all categories are scattered all over LUTH and there presence is becoming too much of a burden for the hospital which has its facilities stretched to breaking pont. Hence the need for the Friends of the Needy Fund. Over the years, apart from its responsibility of delivering quality healthcare, as a foremost tertiary institution, LUTH has also been coping, one way or the other with rendering free services or writing off bills of indigent, poor Nigerians who are financially incapable of coping with their medical bills.
Although the idea of taking care of indigent patients is not a new thing at LUTH, the institution has had its work cut out. In the past, the hospital operated what was known as "Alanu Fund" which soon became inadequate in scope. Stressing this point during the launch, Chairman, LUTH Management Board, Prof. (Chief) James Obi, said the Board then decided to carry out a reactivation of the old fund, rename it, constitute a Board of Trustees and run it such that it will never be run down again. "I cannot but appeal to you to support this Fund by donating generously in cash or kind towards giving a lifeline and putting smiles on the faces of poor and indigent patients of LUTH," he appealed. Prof. Obi also announced the constitution of the Board of Trustees made up of credible and accountable personalities amongst who are Dr. (Chief) I. D. Soleye, who will serve as Chairman, Prof.(Mrs.) Oyin Elebute and Prof. Tolu Odukoya, CMD, LUTH.
According to the Chief Medical Director, Prof Onatolu Onakoya, LUTH will continue to do render such services as a social responsibility. He noted that as a condition for discharge, even in the face of incurring unpaid heavy medical bills, patients are sometimes made to give undertakings on how the bill will be settled later. "In such difficult times when someone is sick and on admission, settling medical bills become an important issue. While some people have the financial wherewithal to meet their health needs, thousands of our fellow Nigerians are unable to do so. Some can hardly afford an amount as little as N 1,000.00 to pay their medical bills."
In the last four years, the total amount of undertakings written by indigent- patients grossed four million naira. According to the CMD, only an insignificant percentage of this debt has been recovered, while the balance was written off as bad debt. "It is regrettable that even now, our wards are littered with genuinely indigent patients. These patients need our help financially. It is the desire of LUTH to continue to render excellent medical care services, it is also pertinent to mention that medical consumables and drugs consumed by these patients require funds for replenishment."
Continuing, Prof Odukoya admitted that writing off medical bills of patients as bad debt, amounted to a great loss of funds, which the hospital could ill afford especially when government funding of overhead cost is grossly inadequate and each institution is involved in generation of funds for self-sustenance.
"I am appealing to everybody especially philanthropists, corporate bodies, old patients, friends of LUTH, people of God, and members of staff of LUTH, to donate generously towards the Friends of the Needy Funds. No amount is too little." These donations are welcome at any time after the launch".
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Copyright © 2002 Vanguard. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).
Vanguard (Lagos)
NEWS
July 2, 2002
Posted to the web July 2, 2002
By Sola Ogundipe
MONDAY Akpan, 23, is an inmate of Ward E2 at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH). He is on admission for treatment of gunshot wounds on his right leg. Over the months, several forms of treatment including minor surgeries had been performed on the injured leg, but relief has been slow coming. The only guarantee of complete recovery, doctors point out, is comprehensive corrective surgery on the deformed leg.
The surgical operation, known as Flap Rotation Internal Fixation for Fractured Tibia was meant to have been carried out soon after his admission, however, since his admission on May 19, 2001, Monday has been running from in vain from pillar to post to raise money. Exact details are scanty, but findings reveal that the cost of the operation apparently runs into several tens of thousands of naira. Since he could not raise the required sum, the operation had to be permanently suspended.
But worse was to come. Considering the nature of his injuries, Monday could not be discharged, he had to remain on admission for monitoring and routine care. In the last 13 months and with no other available option , he has remained a permanent patient of LUTH, subsisting on the goodwill of good Samaritans. According to him, the experience has been everything but rosy. Between the day he was admitted and today, he has amassed a bill in excess of N200,000 yet with little or no hope of raising the cost of the surgery.
"This place is a prison," he confessed to Good Health Weekly in an interview weekend during the launching of the "Friends of the Needy Fund" set up by the LUTH management. "I am trapped here," he continued. "I cannot go home, I have no where to get money for my operation neither can I settle my hospital bills. Most of my welfare benefits have been withdrawn. The hospital stopped feeding me six months ago and I cannot buy my drugs. I have been surviving only on the grace of God and the generous donations of kind hearted people. Nigerians should please come to my aid and help me get out of this bondage."
The "Friends of the Needy Fund" is an initiative exclusively dedicated to cater for the poor and needy patients at the institution. It is meant to guarantee survival of patients like Monday and others like him who do not have to die because of their inability to settle medical bills. The fund will cater for their financial needs while they are under LUTH's care.
A visit to LUTH is all it takes to establish that there are several patients currently languishing in different wards of the health institution as a result of poverty-inflicted bondage. In agony and bitter frustration, their plight was brought to limelight during the launch of the fund, to elicit appeals for compassionate financial assistance for its indigent patients.
Consider the case of Helen Irabor, a 37-year-old woman who was admitted into Ward B1on November 19, 2001 for an undisclosed ailment. Apart from the N6,000 admission fee, Helen has not paid one kobo extra since but has run up a bill to the tune of a whopping N854,000. The case of Dada Muyiwa (42) on admission in Ward B3 for 1st degree burns since Christmas Day last year, is little different. A huge sum of money which he has no hope of raising stands between him and series of skin drafting operations that would restore his skin. To compound his sorrows, he is already owing the hospital N328,700.
Chineze Benedict (41) in Ward E2 for above knee amputation arising from gangrene is also owing LUTH N249,200. He was admitted April 14 last year. In Ward E4 is Nsil Emmanuel Admitted February 7, 2002 for above knee amputation. A debt of N43,900 stands between him and freedom.
There are patients whose indigent condition is further compounded by abandonment and desertion by family members and loved ones. By far the most pathetic is the case of Azeez Balogun, an eight-year-old abandoned in Ward E4 five years ago. Azeez was admitted in April 26, 1997 following a ruptured bladder sustained in the course of a road traffic accident. The plight of Frank Okosun (36) of Ward E2,also comes to mind. He is indebted to the tune of N139,200. One cannot overlook 23-year-old Tosin Ainah, a spinal-cord injury patient of Ward E5 since July 26 last year and abandoned because of a N129,000 debt.
Odunayo Taiwo (25) admitted on October 19, 2001with a head injury from a road traffic accident, and owing N59,500 has also been abandoned to his fate. He cannot go home. Also stranded is James Ubong, a 10-year-old admitted in Ward D2 on June 6, 2002 for severe kerosene burns. Although he has been discharged, he has not been able to return home since the death of his mother on June 16. He is one of the deserted patients.
As bad as these instances appear, more pathetic are innocent infants and children who are suffering in silence as victims of abandonment at LUTH. For instance how does one rationalize the case of Baby Salawu born on April 23, 2002, through emergency Caesarean Section to a mother afflicted by sickle cell anaemia and abandoned shortly after the mother died a month later. Baby Salau withh birth weight 1.12kg and moderate birth asphyxia, has since been under the care of the hospital is owing N17,800. Her relations cannot be traced. Lasisi Yusuf, a six-year-old, admitted in Ward D2 on May 5, 2002 for meningitis cannot go home either because of the inability to pay the N7,500 bill. Suffering similar fate is one-year-old Mariam Tiamiyu on admission in the same ward for meningitis. She is indebted to LUTH for N8,500.
The highlighted cases represent just a tip of the iceberg. Dozens of indigent patients of all categories are scattered all over LUTH and there presence is becoming too much of a burden for the hospital which has its facilities stretched to breaking pont. Hence the need for the Friends of the Needy Fund. Over the years, apart from its responsibility of delivering quality healthcare, as a foremost tertiary institution, LUTH has also been coping, one way or the other with rendering free services or writing off bills of indigent, poor Nigerians who are financially incapable of coping with their medical bills.
Although the idea of taking care of indigent patients is not a new thing at LUTH, the institution has had its work cut out. In the past, the hospital operated what was known as "Alanu Fund" which soon became inadequate in scope. Stressing this point during the launch, Chairman, LUTH Management Board, Prof. (Chief) James Obi, said the Board then decided to carry out a reactivation of the old fund, rename it, constitute a Board of Trustees and run it such that it will never be run down again. "I cannot but appeal to you to support this Fund by donating generously in cash or kind towards giving a lifeline and putting smiles on the faces of poor and indigent patients of LUTH," he appealed. Prof. Obi also announced the constitution of the Board of Trustees made up of credible and accountable personalities amongst who are Dr. (Chief) I. D. Soleye, who will serve as Chairman, Prof.(Mrs.) Oyin Elebute and Prof. Tolu Odukoya, CMD, LUTH.
According to the Chief Medical Director, Prof Onatolu Onakoya, LUTH will continue to do render such services as a social responsibility. He noted that as a condition for discharge, even in the face of incurring unpaid heavy medical bills, patients are sometimes made to give undertakings on how the bill will be settled later. "In such difficult times when someone is sick and on admission, settling medical bills become an important issue. While some people have the financial wherewithal to meet their health needs, thousands of our fellow Nigerians are unable to do so. Some can hardly afford an amount as little as N 1,000.00 to pay their medical bills."
In the last four years, the total amount of undertakings written by indigent- patients grossed four million naira. According to the CMD, only an insignificant percentage of this debt has been recovered, while the balance was written off as bad debt. "It is regrettable that even now, our wards are littered with genuinely indigent patients. These patients need our help financially. It is the desire of LUTH to continue to render excellent medical care services, it is also pertinent to mention that medical consumables and drugs consumed by these patients require funds for replenishment."
Continuing, Prof Odukoya admitted that writing off medical bills of patients as bad debt, amounted to a great loss of funds, which the hospital could ill afford especially when government funding of overhead cost is grossly inadequate and each institution is involved in generation of funds for self-sustenance.
"I am appealing to everybody especially philanthropists, corporate bodies, old patients, friends of LUTH, people of God, and members of staff of LUTH, to donate generously towards the Friends of the Needy Funds. No amount is too little." These donations are welcome at any time after the launch".
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright © 2002 Vanguard. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).