Nothing can be more illustrative of the moral decay into which Nigeria has sunk and the low value now placed on human dignity, than the case of two financially-constrained women, who have been living in detention at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) for over six months, because they are unable to settle their hospital bills. Available accounts reveal that Gift Sunday and Grace Itah, two indigent patients, have been denied their freedom by LUTH management and, if nobody comes to their rescue, they and other patients in the same predicament will remain under “house arrest” in hospital custody.
This de facto attempt by LUTH to criminalize poverty in Nigeria is totally unacceptable and condemnable. Not only is it in violation of national and statutory international human rights instruments of which Nigeria is a signatory; it is a national embarrassment and international shame on all Nigerians. While it may not be certain the exact extent of the problem, there are sufficient reasons to assume that it is now assuming some notoriety in Nigerian hospitals. President Goodluck Jonathan should order the immediate release of all prisoners at LUTH and other hospitals in the country, with measures taken to ensure such a situation does not happen again. Honestly, what kind of a country are we?
Though the two middle-aged women were formally admitted as patients for different ailments, treated and discharged, their stay in the hospital started extending when they were unable to clear their bills. LUTH then decided the unthinkable: hold them hostage until they pay. Meanwhile, as days go by, the bills keep mounting and the patients are hopeless on how to regain their freedom. Their prayer is to have a chance to come out of their hospital “prison” to see broad daylight again.
Gift, who was initially admitted for Sickle Cell crisis in the middle of last year, said that even if it meant to just see daylight in a minute and die the next moment, she would prefer it than staying in a room for the rest of her life. The helpless woman who hails from Uyo, Akwa Ibom State said a Good Samaritan found her almost dead on the street when she was having her sickle cell crisis and rushed her to the hospital. She said she did not have any relative that could come for her in Lagos except in Uyo. Even back home, no one knows where she is at present and she cannot even remember the number of days that she has spent and what the bill would have amounted to. Gift said she had remained in one room for several months and the only chance she gets to see daylight has been through the window. This is one instance where the public expects Nigeria’s Santa Klaus Governor, Godswill Akpabio to show his magnanimity. If Akpabio can donate an SUV and sponsor the wedding of hip hop star, Tuface Idiba, then he can be no less compassionate with this woman!
For Grace, who is from Cross River, even if the hospital had to put her through such condition, they should not have kept her in the same room with other sick people. She said for over five months that she has been living in a ward, with other patients; she has continued falling sick as a result of staying close to those who are admitted for different illnesses. She said the situation is so bad that her movement has been restricted to between the toilet and her bed. The frail woman wished the hospital management could allow her work and pay back installmentally. Her bill has been mounting as days pass by; in February this year, the bill was N129.000.
LUTH has taken a rather self-serving and mercantilist position, arguing that patients come up with flimsy excuses not to pay their bills because they believe LUTH is a government hospital and they deserve free medical services. This is sheer nonsense. Does anyone need to be reminded that LUTH is a government hospital and all Nigerians deserve proper medical care from LUTH irrespective of their status or ability to pay? In all civilized countries, medical services are made affordable for those who can pay; and free for those who cannot afford; which is why the government immensely subsidizes all public hospitals.
While the need for LUTH to shield itself against the encumbrances of spiraling and unproductive debts is understandable, holding people in captivity because they are unable to settle their bills is illegal because they have not committed any criminal offence. Since when did LUTH become a prison? Poverty is not a crime in Nigeria and no matter what motives might inform LUTH’s decision, holding patients in bondage because they are poor is callous insensitivity at its worst. It is also a negation of all known principles of decency and compassion for your fellow man. Besides, it is penny wise and pound foolish for LUTH to keep bankrupt patients in custody; underwriting their feeding and ancillary expenses instead of cutting their losses and letting them go. It amounts at best, to throwing good money after bad.
This ugly development shows that there are no moral boundaries that cannot be violated, if any such boundaries still exist in the amoral enclave into which an average Nigerian family has been transformed as a result of bad leadership. As condemnable as it is, holding patients in bondage simply because they are poor is morally reprehensible and a reflection of the deepening crisis and contradictions of the Nigerian state, especially given its grossly apparent declining capacity, if not total failure, to measure up to its responsibilities, including providing healthcare for its most vulnerable population – the poor and dispossessed.
When the level of robbery by LUTH officials and the absurdity of their extravagant life styles vis-à-vis the poverty the patients they hold in custody are considered, the desperation of those hostages advertises its depth and breadth as encompassing criminality and man’s inhumanity to man. Though a local issue, it has international ramifications because it can also be a major source of excruciating international image crisis for the already battered reputation of Nigeria in the international community.
