The Medical Director, Federal Medical Centre, Bida, Niger state, Dr Usman Abubakar, has denied increasing the cost of its services.
The rebuttal was made by the medical director when he addressed newsmen in Bida, Wednesday.
He said the consultation fee remains N500 and not N3000, while the fee for ante-natal services remains N1000.
He added that any woman coming to the hospital for the first time is required to open a card and folder to keep her record.
“The folder and card and all the necessary things needed to keep her record is what she pays N1000 for and it is done throughout her pregnancy and subsequent ones,” he said.
He also said pregnant women pay N1000 and not N3,000 for utilities like detergents and other consumables.
Dr Abubakar debunked rumours that the hospital charges for patients were exorbitant.
He said the hospital was established in order to provide quality healthcare services to host communities, state and indeed Nigerians.
He attributed the little upward review in charges to increase in the cost of hospital consumables and equipment, as well as present economy reality.
He assured that the hospital would continue to maintain quality service delivery to the people of the area.
“We don’t compromise standard as we are not profit oriented. To further clear the air, there is what we call out-of-pocket expenditure, which is what the patient pays for.
“And most of these come from what we call hospital consumables that include things like drugs, liquid soaps for washing hand after using equipment, hand sanitisers, reagents for laboratory tests, among others.
“Thought we shop these things from the market, it is what we spend in buying them that patients pay for,” Dr Abubakar said.
“If as of last year a test was N500 and this year we are charging N1000, which is 100 percent increment, it is because the cost of buying those reagents has also increased in the market because of the present economic realities.
“So, what we have even done as an institution is to do away with third party who are the contractors and suppliers
“We try ourselves to go to the manufacturers or major distributors, so that we get the lowest prices for our patients, considering the purchasing power of our community without compromising quality,” he said.
Dr Abubakar advised people to verify information before going to the media in the interest of peace and overall development of the area, state and indeed Nigeria.
