Pregnant Women Are Reportedly Being Detained at General Hospitals in Nigeria | See Details

Mrs Audu had just given birth to her first child at the Asokoro General Hospital. She was ecstatic and could not wait to take her newborn home but her joy was short-lived.

According to her, she and her baby have been denied discharge because of unpaid medical bills and until they can foot their hospital bills, they were kept in hospital arrest.

“We’ve been asked to stay here until we can pay. I need Nigerians to help me out,” She said.

Audu who is a low-grade civil servant in the nation’s capital is one of many new mothers under detention in Nigerian hospitals as a result of inability to settle their medical bills.

She is one of many Nigerian mothers and pregnant women reportedly facing detention in the hospital as a result of in ability to either fund medical bills or inadequate facility to care for them.

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Audu’s case was quite serious as she suffered postpartum haemorrhage and had received two pints of blood shortly after giving birth, which is her first child birth experience.

According to Dailytimes, up the aisle to the maternity ward of the Asokoro Hospital, a stretch of pregnant women are seen groaning under labour pains and awaiting available beds for delivery.

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“All the beds have been occupied in this hospital, the women queue until there’s a bed space available. As soon as you birth your baby, you are discharged to go home, we need space for others,” a matron who asked to remain anonymous said.

Nigeria has one of the worst health coverage indicators in the world with less than four percent of the population insured. A far cry from countries like Rwanda where only about 4% are not insured.

According to the terms of University College Hospitals, access to safe, quality and essential, affordable health-care services including medicines and vaccines should be available for all.

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While Nigeria’s President Mohammed Buhari enjoys medical treatment abroad, Nigerian government hospitals remain detention facilities for new mothers across the country.

The unpleasant effect is that it is now common to see high-ranking public officials bail out detained mothers in what is pitched to the public, as an act of compassion.

The non-implementation of the 2014 National Health Act is a major drawback and reason for the collapse of health facilities, which have turned into trauma centres for most pregnant women.

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