There is no place in the world where Healthcare is free.
every time, someone within or at the end of the spectrum is paying whether government, private individual, donors, NGO etc
We need to understand that hospital care is not equivalent to free care, setting up a hospital requires funding and a continual pool of funds to sustain care.
Hospitals ( except where stated) are not charity based faith organisations that run on a pool of donor funds.
Passion won't pay the bills of the Healthcare workers, Passion won't restock medical supplies if you decide to do pro-bono care, NO. Money is the Engine.
when we have discourses like these, it is good to tackle the horse before the cart and not Vice versa.
A flip question
"Why will Chicken Republic and Bukka Hut refuse to serve food to hungry customers who come to the restaurant without money to pay for food, that is unfair to humanity"
There is no where in medical ethics that proscribe medicine as free care.
what we should be talking about is how do we subsidize care and make it more accessible for the common man.
This is where we take the fight to the government.
HEALTH INSURANCE is a big way forward
for a country that is over 200 million, less than 5 % of people have insurance. In a country where poverty figures are at an all tine high, how will people afford health care?
Do we expect hospitals that spend their monies to establish facilities to start charity. NO
First, Mandate every Nigerian to have health insurance.
foster public and private partnerships.
Institute health policies that give hospitals lower running costs and taxes.
create a supply chain system where medical consumables are cheaper and more accessible.
Revamp and rehabilitate PHCs.
With these little fixes, watch the narrative change.
but till then, the issue of not accessing care due to poverty will still linger.
Long read I know. but it is good it is explicit.
Thanks
Where did we get the medical ethics in Nigeria that allow doctors and nurses to refuse to treat patients simply because they cannot afford to pay?
Why should a human being be left to die simply because they have no money?
Since when did money become more important than human life?