Patients From Birnin Kudu Absconds From Federal Hospital Jigawa Due To Increase In Medical Form Fees By Umar Faruq Usman, Dutse
Owing to the increase of the medical form fee at the Federal Medical Center Birnin Kudu Jigawa State, the number of women that visits the hospital has reduced. As gathered by our reporter, the Hospital Management has increased the Medical form fee.
According to a patient who spoke in anonymity to Journalists when a non- Governmental organisation, DEVCOM from Lagos visited the Hospital, the patient said majority of Women especially those from rural areas have stopped visiting the Federal Medical Centre due to the increase in amount of used in the purchase of medical forms.
Speaking an official of the Hospital Hajiya Asabe said most of household cannot even afford the form fee which increased from N200 to N2000, also asserted that a lot of women have switch over to the State General Hospital because their Husbands cannot afford to pay two thousand naira.
Another patient Hauwa Muhammed Usman also said pregnant women
are facing serious difficulties due to lack of medical professionals in the hospital, owing to the nationwide strike embarked by the Medical Doctors, as it seriously affects the lives of women and children especially as she added that it is only nurses
that are attending to patients a situation which has made the Hospital to now use one nurse to 20 to 30 patients a day.
When contacted an official of the hospital Hajia Asabe Bala said the strike really had affected their official assignment and also affected the lives of the people in the area but that they are doing their best to assist the women and children especially those women who are on ante natal care.
She also confirmed that the medical form fee really stopped some of the patients in attending the centre with highest hit being the he rural women who usually come from the villages as most of the husband are farmers and majority of them could not give N2000 naira to their wives to buy the medical form.
She said; “some husband cannot even give the transport fares to their wives not to talk of money for medical check-up medicine as some of the men expects that everything is free in the hospital.
