Ben Adoga, Abuja
Government owned hospitals in the FCT have rejected the CBN and the federal government’s cashless policy as they are denying patients access to medical care, insisting that they must pay fully in cash before attention is given.

There were lamentations in some of the hospitals visited as patients who could not access cash for payment are denied attention, in spite of difficulties in accessing cash across the country occasioned by federal government’s cashless policy.

This has taken a toll on patients in the FCT resulting in deaths of some while some care givers are subjected to harrowing traumatic experiences to search out fash or watch their loved ones give up the ghost in their hands.

In Bwari General Hospital, a woman was said to have died as she was not attended to because they had no cash to pay before treatment.

While the relatives wailed uncontrollably and could not comport themselves to talk to our reporter, others who watch helplessly condemned the attitude of the hospital management for neglecting the woman and insisting on cash payment before treatment.

Patients at the Bwari General  Hospitals have appealed to the FCT Minister, Muhammad Musa Bello to prevail on management of all government  hospitals to update their payment system to the present day reality of cashless economy.

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Narrating their frustrations which according to them had left sower taste in their mouths because of the loss of their loved ones, one of the relations of a patient at emergency world, Bwari General Hospital, who declined to mention her name, explained that her mother was rushed to the emergency unit of the General Hospital around 12 mind-night but denied full treatment for her inability to pay cash till 10:00am the next day when our reporter met them and we’re still not sure of attention.

She said her aged mother was abandoned by the hospital staff, alleging that Bwari General Hospital did not have any point of sale, POS, machine and refused to accept transfer of fund.

Another resident, Adekola Gbade, who narrated his ordeal, when he took his wife to Kubwa General Hospital said it was by God’s devine intervention that his wife made it, he said  that health workers at the FCT Kubwa health facility were hell bent on cash only and nothing else before they attend to patients.

At Wuse General Hospital, the story is the same, no staff was ready to talk to the press while patients and their care givers were too busy begging for attention to talk to the press.

One lady whose relative was on the floor lamented: What kind of country is this? “I have money, I can’t access it, my sister is in pain and nobody cares, there is no cash anywhere, the hospital does not have POS or ATM, what do they want us to do?”

When contacted, Mandate Secretary for FCT Health and Human Services Secretariat, Dr. Abubakar Tafida noted that he already instructed all hospitals through their MDs to accept transfers and to do every thing possible to adjust to the reality of the times

He, however, noted that the process of getting POS machines have been cumbersome and taking some time.

He said they were taken unawares by the policy and that they are trying to adjust.

He, however, warned that any hospital that rejects patients on account of cash payment should be reported and that appropriate penalty woulf be meted on the staff.

Dr. Tafida said they are in the process of acquiring the necessary tools to adjust to the policy and that they needed little time to fully adjust.

While this goes on, the Health and Human Services Secretariat must do more to save lives before they are able to adjust to the new policy. Hospitals must be seen not to reject patients on account of inability to pay cash.