Economic crisis forces Nigerians to self-medication, more die

By Adebayo Obajemu

The rising cost of healthcare has forced many Nigerians to embrace self-medication and alternative treatment, which is leading to increasing rate of deaths. Investigation by this medium revealed that many cases reach secondary health services when the situation had become hopeless and death certain.

It was further discovered that people now go more pharmacy shops for consultations rather see general medical practitioners to reduce cost. Others who can afford pharmacist’s prescriptions simply resort to alternative medication, known in local parlance as Agbo.

Nigeria continues to face growing challenges in the healthcare sector which in part, according to experts, is hinged on relatively low private and public sector investments, low density of medical personnel to population (1.95 per 1000) and weakening disposable income. This appears to have inadvertently led to rising healthcare cost across the value chain.

As at 2021, data from the National Bureau of Statistics revealed the composite consumer price index for health had surged by 15.8% year-on-year as at May 2021 having reached a 10 year high in April 2021 at 15.9%.

Urban health inflation was put at 16.7%, while rural health inflation wobbled behind at 15.1% as at May 2021. Many Nigerians have been forced to seek solutions to their health challenges in alternative medicine.

In a chat with Business Hallmark, the medical director of Trust Hospital, Idimu, Dr. Essien Udom, said many reasons are responsible for the spike in the cost of accessing healthcare in the country, which has forced many to alternative platform.

Among other reasons, Udom fingered exchange rate devaluation as a major factor. He harped on the high cost of medical equipment and drugs which are imported, and rely heavily on exchange rate, when contextualized against the backdrop of the fact that the naira has undergone a series of devaluation in the past three years.

“There is the factor of the post-COVID hangover which has engraved in the mindset of many the fear of visiting hospital. I can tell you that Nigerians are still very much afraid of visiting hospitals due to the covid-19 disease which broke out earlier in 2020, hence affecting the revenue of the hospitals, to the extent that they are downsizing staff and also raising prices just to break even.

“The implication of reduced patients in the hospitals is that, those who eventually visit the hospital bear the financial burden of paying high cost, so as to cover for the lack of customers on the part of the hospitals,” he added.

Udom told Business Hallmark that structural and functional inadequacies in the health sector have led to worsening fortune of healthcare delivery to fall short of expectations.
According to him, healthcare is neither readily accessible nor affordable. The National Health Insurance Scheme, NHIS, introduced several years ago to cushion the negative effects of unaffordable healthcare has failed to achieve that objective.

“With no reliable national healthcare financing arrangement in place for the average Nigerian and the very poor, out-of-pocket payment has remained the order of the day to access healthcare services. This state of affairs has forced many to embrace alternative medicine, which is less costly, but unreliable”, he said.

Recently, the Chief Medical Director at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Professor Adetokunbo Fabanwo, attributed the rising cost of healthcare to limited number of health practitioners in the country.

In a recent World Bank report, Nigeria spends about 3.89% of its GDP on Health Care Expenditure, a significantly high amount when compared to the GDP of Human Health Sector.

Nigerians pay for healthcare via private pockets, community funded programs, or via private sector or government-supported medical insurance via the NHIS or the 54 Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs).

Unfortunately, the number of people who pay for healthcare via medical insurance is not enough to drive down healthcare cost, worsening an already bad situation. To pay for their health care, most Nigerians often rely on self-medication in pharmacies and roadside chemists.

Yet, it is these shops that have seen prices rise the most since the pandemic. Rich Nigerians on the other hand spend more abroad fueling a growing medical tourism industry that gets more money out of Nigeria.

James Adeoti, 56, a commercial driver plying Agege- Agbado route claims to be a father of six children. He says for the past two years, his family has done away with the hospital his family used anytime one of them falls sick.

“We don’t even know where the family card is kept. What we do is that anytime we need medical assistance, we either go to Nature Cure herbal hospital or we go to the market to see ‘Elewe omo'( woman herbal seller in the market), and it has been working for us.”

His story has similarities with others who spoke to Business Hallmark.

Adio Mesura, 62, had stroke attack three years ago, the hospital where he had been receiving medical treatment did their best for him, but he was yet to fully recover; his right arm still dangled betraying characteristic of stroke.

A year ago, a herbal vendor he met in commercial bus gave him the herbal recipe for a complete cure.

“He told me to buy snail and fresh bitter leaves after which I should smash the snail in order to extract the water, after which I should mix it with water squeezed out of the bitter leaves. The vendor told me to mix it and drink. I actually followed the instruction, and after about 30 minutes my body came back to position”.

At Faith Pharmacy, Rowland Benjamin, Chief Pharmacist and CEO told Business Hallmark that “there has been a progressive decline in patronage. The tradition here is that we maintain data on our customers.

“For sometimes now we noticed a decline and when we call them they blame inability to buy drugs due to costs. Some of them often admit that they now patronize alternative medicine.”

This line of argument was repeated at Trust Hospital. Dr. Udom said his hospital has for the past three years been experiencing a gradual plummetting of patronage, which he attributed to rising costs.

But at Zodiac Herbal Clinic, Adesanmi Oni, the herbal doctor in charge, said “my clinic has witnessed an upsurge in patronage as from the time of the pandemic. We notice that more and more people are seeking alternative method of treating their ailments.”

Alabi Ogunwusi, 78, a retired primary school headmaster told this medium that “for the past 15 years I have never been to an orthodox hospital. I always go to my herbal consultant, collect the necessary prescription herbs. I’m healthy and I jog within my compound every morning. Orthodox medical treatment is expensive in the country”.

Recent report by the World Health Organisation (WHO) says over three-quarter of the world’s population is using herbal medicines with an increasing trend globally. Herbal medicines may be beneficial but are not completely harmless.

According to the medical journal Nature, alternative medicine is any practice that aims to achieve the healing effects of medicine, but which lacks biological plausibility and is untested, untestable or proven ineffective.
Checks by this medium showed that death rate in hospital s has be rising as many patients are brought up in at the last minute when any remedy is useless.

Dapo lamented how a relative staying with his mum delayed her leg injury as a diabetic because she was ‘managing’ it led to her death.
“I gave her some money to go see doctor but she didn’t tell me that the money was not enough. She get the medicines prescribed to continue with treatment. By the time I knew it was too late,” he lamented.