Patients Forced To Pay Cash At Abuja General Hospital Despite Cashless Policy

…We Have Only Two POS — Hospital

Margarete Okoro had just arrived at the Nyanya General Hospital, Abuja for her anti-natal in the early hours of Tuesday when she was denied her weekly routine check-up due to N500. She is to commence the process with a urine test with the said amount, but her inability to make payment with cash left her in tears.

The heavily expectant mother, ostensibly darker than her natural completion, was sighted crying and pleading with the cashier at the consulting room 1 of the clinic to pay through a phone transaction or Point of Sale (POS) machine, but both were declined.

Frustrated by the delay and the consequences which would require joining the long queue despite arriving early, she walked up to Sylvia Adams, another pregnant woman in tears, to request N500 to first run the test, then go source for funds afterwards.

Adams was seen by THE WHISTLER to have assisted Okoro who subsequently headed to make payment to start her routine process.

Like Okoro, many other patients in this facility have various accounts of how the strict demand for cash for medical services has affected their access to healthcare.

When approached on the issue, Adams told THE WHISTLER, “Accessing health care at the hospital is very unbearable in terms of payment, I always source for cash before coming here if I must be attended to, the cashiers treat us with disdain, even with our money, if not that it is late to change my place of antenatal, I would not be here”.

She added that pregnant women are now mandated to pay N15,000 in cash for the delivery kit, instead of the previous N10,500 charge.

The facility with a large patient base from the Karu, Nyanya, and Mararaba areas of Nasarawa and Abuja only has two POS machines not in use.

The situation, THE WHISTLER learnt, had incited a near-death experience for some patients like Eucharia Okwudili, who had an emergency medical situation.

Okwudili, who’s in her mid-50s recounted how she had almost lost her life because the hospital cashier had declined payment through the POS, visibly placed on their desk.

She said, “I was directed to carry out a test of roughly N12,500 and buy drugs of N9,000, on getting to the cashier stand, I was told to either use the Eco bank ATM or the POS outside the hospital as the hospital does not have a POS, mind you I was seriously sick.

“I had to queue at the Bank. When it got to my turn, the ATM ran out of cash. So, I went back home, took out the savings I had which weren’t enough, and begged a neighbour who assisted me with the balance I needed before going back to the hospital to complete the process. That day, I saw my life flash before my eyes”.

Eric Adebayo also had a similar experience. It was his first time at the hospital, but “I am certain I won’t come back here”, he told THE WHISTLER.

“They do not value lives, in this time and age, a hospital as big as this is yet to adopt electronic transfer, I’m livid” Adebayo added.

THE WHISTLER also made efforts to make payment without cash after posing as a patient, but the female cashier present there declined, confirming, “The hospital no longer accepts electronic payment but cash”.

We Are Not Aware

However, the hospital management appeared to be oblivious to the situation.

The available POS in the hospital was purchased at the peak of the cash scarcity to mitigate the frustration of patients without access to cash.

Speaking to THE WHISTLER on the matter, the hospital’s Medical Director, Dr Hadiza Idris, expressed her shock over the situation, noting, “No staff was instructed to enforce a such policy”.

Idris said the management was unaware of the difficulty encountered by patients due to the unauthorized policy by its staff demanding only cash payment.

“I don’t know where they get the instruction from,” she added.

She further explained, “During the cash crunch, we had to result to the use of POS and that was done abruptly when we noticed that the cash scarcity was a huge problem for the patients. Immediately we got a POS machine to enable patients to make payments swiftly.

“We also have just two POS: One at the cashier stand close to the delivery ward and the other within the precinct of the hospital. Even with the cash being made available, we did not withdraw the options for online payment.

“We don’t charge patients on POS charges. We are bearing the brunt on the charges, so I’m shocked that this is happening in the hospital,” Idris noted.

Meanwhile, the hospital’s secretary, Modestus Ozongo, revealed that the management had plans to purchase more POS to enable transfers. Still, it was halted after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) addressed the issue of cash scarcity.

Recall that the country had witnessed an unprecedented cash scarcity after the CBN redesigned the country’s currency to mop out excess cash from the system and to enforce a cashless policy.

The scarcity that lasted for at least five weeks later fizzled out after the apex bank distributed more cash into the system. It is, however, unclear why the Nyanya Hospital still insists on cash payment despite its availability.