The entrance of Ibafo Primary Health Centre, visited by our correspondent, illustrates the growing challenges patients face in paying for medical care. Patients and their relatives are lamenting the scarcity of naira notes, noting that it has made settling medical bills increasingly difficult. Many patients we spoke with told HealthWise that the ongoing naira shortage is severely impacting their ability to receive treatment, as some doctors now insist on cash payments for tests, drugs, and services.
Our correspondent, who visited several hospitals in Lagos and Ogun states, reported that the lack of available naira notes has turned payment for medical bills into a herculean task. The Central Bank of Nigeria’s directive to swap old naira notes for new ones, with a February 10, 2023 deadline, has led to long queues at ATMs and exorbitant fees charged by point‑of‑sale (POS) agents for cash withdrawals. Some patients said their cash is trapped in commercial banks that refuse to dispense either new or old notes.
At two hospitals in the Ibafo area of Ogun state on Friday, our correspondent confirmed that hospitals are demanding cash payments. Many patients arrived with cash, while others were instructed to locate the nearest POS agent to obtain money. HealthWise’s findings revealed that hospital management has stopped accepting bank transfers due to network issues. When the correspondent requested treatment at the King’s Will Clinic in Ibafo, he was told to pay cash before a diagnostic test could be performed. Even after his blood sample was taken, the hospital insisted that nothing further would be done until the cash payment was made, directing him to find a POS agent to settle the bill.
Similar experiences were reported by other patients in the area. Several said hospitals refused to attend to them until payment issues were resolved, and obtaining medicines at pharmacies was also difficult because of the naira shortage and problems with money transfers caused by network failures. The impact of naira scarcity on healthcare is not limited to Lagos and Ogun. In Abuja, a man identified only as Ajayi recounted that a necessary cesarean section for his wife could not be performed at Maitama Hospital because the facility would not accept transfers or provide POS machines. He was forced to postpone the surgery until the following Wednesday to gather the required cash, noting that while the procedure cost about N150,000, he could withdraw only N20,000 per day.
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