Naira Scarcity: Death Figures Spike In Nigerian Hospitals

The current naira scarcity, occasioned by the currency swap policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), is taking a toll on healthcare services across the country.

Patients are increasingly denied access to care at health facilities as many of the facilities operate mainly cash-only systems or have poor e-payment systems. These facilities turn down transfers, insisting on cash payments before attending to patients.

Investigations by Daily Trust on Sunday revealed that as a result of these, many of the patients die at home or the facilities, or get worse while waiting to get cash to pay and access care.

Our reporters gathered that even at health facilities that operate e-payments systems, the absence of the alternative of cash payments due to naira scarcity had led to such long queues and network issues that patients get worse or are denied care all together.

It was a bitter experience for the family of James Auta, a resident of Kasuwar Magani in Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State, who lost his pregnant wife due to failure to access cash in his bank and Point of Sale (POS) channels.

The incident happened early this month after Auta’s wife went into labour but was rejected, simply because her husband couldn’t make payment due to naira scarcity.

Daily Trust on Sunday gathered that the woman died at home after giving birth but continued to bleed.

The incident caused concerns across the state as patients and their family members found it difficult to make payments to access treatments due to the naira shortage.

Findings revealed that some patients face rejection in some hospitals for lack of cash.

-Dailytrust