Even with the fear of Ebola receding across the nation, there is palpable worry among people in Oyo State who are likely to find it difficult to know their test results, except the University College Hospital (UCH) reverses its policy of imposing exorbitant fees on patients who have been thronging the hospital to confirm whether they are infected with the dreaded virus or not.
The need to ascertain their status has arisen from the stigmatisation by foreign mission and other bodies who have been insisting since the outbreak of the disease in the country that Nigerian travellers wanting to enter their countries must produce certificates verifying that they are free of the Ebola virus.
THISDAY findings at UCH in the past one week revealed that patients thronging the hospital to ascertain the status of their health were turned back when they could not afford the sum of N10,000 being demanded by the hospital authorities to check if they were Ebola-positive or negative. Even at that, patients have to pay the N1,600 compulsory consultancy fee.
Many who could not afford the bill especially after payment of the consultancy fee complained of the exorbitant charge and returned to their homes forlorn.
There was also anxiety among the people, as they wondered about the real status of their neighbours. One of them who spoke to THISDAY on the condition of anonymity asked, “What happens if these set of people have contracted the Ebola disease? And besides, in this emergency situation, must UCH charge fees for people to know their status when the entire population is living in fear of the deadly virus?”
The number of PPEs has however improved since the Ebola outbreak recently in Lagos.
Many of the top doctors were said to have queried management’s reported stance on the Ebola menace, wondering what would happen if indeed the hospital ever records an Ebola case.
A woman who was affected by the fees recounted her ordeal to THISDAY: “As an official prerequisite for the release of my son's visa and mine, we were expected to submit a certified medical report certifying us free of the Ebola virus to the Iranian embassy in Abuja.
“Hence my son and I headed to the University College Hospital, Ibadan, to be tested and certified. After going through the rigorous procedure of registration and screening at the General Out-Patient (GOP) Department, a sceptical doctor issued us two leaves of laboratory/investigation paper which I was told to take to the virology department where the test was to be conducted.
“The laboratory attendant demanded that I should pay N20,000 as test fee: N10,000 for each of us. I was dazed that a federal government medical facility could charge us such an outrageous amount for a ravaging virus they claimed to be curtailing.”
The Public Relations Officer of the hospital, Ayodeji Bobade, when contacted by THISDAY on the development, promised to call back. But 48 hours later, he had not kept his promise.
Source: Thisday
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