EXCLUSIVE: Inside Kwara Govt Hospital Where Health Workers Demand Between N1,000 And N5,000 From Patients To Retrieve Medical Files, Provide Gloves, Other Basic Services

The alleged collections, which patients say are often made without official receipts or clear explanations, have raised questions about the management of the hospital, its financial accountability and the adequacy of funding provided by the Kwara State Government.

Patients seeking treatment at Kwara State University Teaching Hospital are being subjected to multiple cash demands for basic medical services, including retrieving medical files, obtaining examination gloves and receiving physiotherapy, according to accounts by multiple residents who spoke to SaharaReporters.

The alleged collections, which patients say are often made without official receipts or clear explanations, have raised questions about the management of the hospital, its financial accountability and the adequacy of funding provided by the Kwara State Government.

Patients who spoke to SaharaReporters described a situation in which they are required to make payments beyond the official charges for treatment before accessing certain services. They also alleged that some workers demand cash directly, without providing evidence that the money is paid into the hospital’s accounts.

According to multiple patients, some health workers demand between N2,000 and N5,000 to retrieve and release patients’ medical files.

Patients further alleged that they are charged separately for gloves. Those seeking delivery services are reportedly asked to pay N5,000 for gloves, while patients visiting for routine consultations are allegedly required to pay N1,000.

“If you go for check up and you want the doctor to see you, you must pay N1000  for gloves, used or not used,” one of the patients said. 

One of the residents told SaharaReporters that the hospital had some of the best infrastructure among government-owned health facilities he had visited in Nigeria but complained that its management and service delivery did not reflect the quality of its facilities.

“The hospital is one of the best government hospitals I have been to in a while in Nigeria. Facilities-wise, to be honest, the hospital is among the best. But what I am trying to tell you is that they are not managing this hospital as it should be managed,” he said.

Patients Pay To Retrieve Medical Files As Electronic Records System Stops Working

One of the major complaints raised by the resident concerns the hospital’s electronic medical records system, which he said previously allowed patients’ information to be stored and retrieved digitally.

According to him, the system has stopped functioning, forcing patients to personally handle their physical medical files and allegedly pay workers to retrieve them.

He questioned why patients should be required to pay staff members for a responsibility that falls within their official duties, particularly when the workers receive salaries from the government.

“The patients are the ones handling their case files themselves. The person that is supposed to probably bring out the file for them will be requesting money. For what? People that are being paid salaries are now requesting money just to do their jobs,” he said.

He explained that the hospital previously operated a paperless system through an application or digital platform used to store and retrieve patients’ medical information.

“There’s an application or a system they are supposed to use for information about patients and all of that. They have gone paperless. The last time I came here, they were paperless. So all of a sudden, this stuff stopped working.

“And now, we, the patients, are supposed to take our files and wait for doctors to give the files to them. It doesn’t make any sense,” he added.

The alleged breakdown of the electronic records system raises questions about the hospital’s investment in digital healthcare infrastructure, its maintenance arrangements and why patients are reportedly being made to assume responsibilities previously handled through the system.

N7,500 Initial Physiotherapy Payment, N2,000 For Subsequent Sessions

The resident also gave details of payments allegedly demanded from patients visiting the physiotherapy department.

He said patients were required to pay N7,500 initially, followed by N2,000 for subsequent sessions, with the money allegedly collected in cash.

He questioned the absence of a transparent payment process, saying patients were not given proper receipts or records showing how the money was accounted for.

“On getting to the physiotherapy department, you are supposed to pay N7,500. Then you pay N2,000 for the people that are supposed to carry out the physiotherapy on you. Subsequently, you’re supposed to be bringing N2,000 every day.

“There is no payment system. There is nothing. You just give them cash and no record, nothing at all,” he said.

He also complained that patients were required to pay for basic medical consumables, including examination gloves, despite seeking treatment at a government-owned hospital.

“You pay for gloves at a government hospital, as small as gloves are. You have to pay for gloves. It doesn’t sound weird? It doesn’t at all,” he said.

The resident called on Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq to investigate the situation, arguing that patients should not have to make unofficial payments to access basic services at public health facilities.

“Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, please help us look into those things. These are things that we should have access to on a normal day as citizens.

“Paying for gloves, paying for someone that will bring out files, files that we are not supposed to handle ourselves in the first place. Then you have to pay that person,” he said.

He further alleged that the payments were not processed through the hospital’s official account or the state government’s account.

According to him, some workers insisted on receiving cash and rejected bank transfers, a practice he said made it difficult for patients to establish whether the money was officially authorised or properly accounted for.

“These payments do not go into the hospital account or the government account. They just ask you to give them cash. Even they don’t take transfers. They will tell you to bring cash,” he said.

Other Patients Describe Multiple Cash Demands

SaharaReporters separately spoke with other residents who had visited the hospital. They also raised concerns about additional payments, cash collections and the absence of transparency in charges for medical services.

One of the residents said patients were frequently confronted with additional financial demands after making official payments for treatment, making it increasingly difficult for people with limited resources to access healthcare.

“It is becoming difficult for ordinary people to access healthcare in this hospital. Apart from the money you pay officially, there are other payments you are asked to make before you can get certain services. Sometimes, you don’t even know what the money is for or who is supposed to receive it. People come here to seek medical attention, not to start negotiating with workers over money,” the resident said.

Another resident described what he considered a pattern of separate payments for different services, with little explanation of the purpose of the charges or whether the money was being remitted to the hospital.

“Almost everything seems to attract a separate payment. You pay for one thing, and before you know it, somebody is asking you to bring money for another service. What makes it worse is that some of these payments are made in cash without proper receipts. Government hospitals are supposed to make healthcare accessible to ordinary Nigerians, but this situation is making things difficult for patients who are already struggling financially,” the second resident said.

The accounts of the residents raise questions about whether the additional payments are part of an officially approved hospital revenue arrangement or collections made independently by individual workers.

Hospital Official Blames Lack Of Government Funding

However, an official in the hospital’s administrative unit, who spoke to SaharaReporters on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak publicly, defended the additional collections, saying they were necessary to sustain the facility’s operations.

The official claimed that the Kwara State Government had stopped providing operational subventions to the hospital, leaving it without the financial support required to run its day-to-day activities.

He said the government continued to pay workers’ salaries but did not provide the hospital with funds for its operational needs.

“The government is not giving the hospital any subvention to run its activities. The only thing the government is doing is paying the salaries of the workers,” the official told SaharaReporters.

He added, “The money we are charging internally is to help us run the activities of the hospital. The workers are trying to raise money for the hospital so that we can fund its activities.”

The explanation presents a different account of the additional collections, with the hospital official portraying them as an internal funding arrangement rather than payments intended for the personal benefit of individual workers.

However, he did not provide details of the formal approval governing the collections, the rates charged for the different services, the accounts into which the money is paid or the financial records used to track the revenue.

His explanation also does not resolve the specific allegations that some workers demand cash directly from patients for retrieving medical files and other services without issuing receipts.

The situation raises broader questions about how government-owned hospitals in the state are expected to finance their operations, whether internally generated revenue collections are properly regulated and how patients are protected from unauthorised charges.

SaharaReporters contacted the Kwara State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Amina Ahmed El-Imam, seeking the government’s response to the allegations and clarification on the hospital’s funding arrangements.

The commissioner was asked to explain whether the state government had stopped providing operational subventions to the facility, whether the additional patient charges were officially approved and whether the alleged cash collections were being monitored by the ministry.

However, she had not responded to messages sent to her and did not answer repeated telephone calls as of the time of filing this report.