Healthcare in Nigeria has many stories.

A few of them are shared below

Click on the button to read an article about the state of healthcare in Nigeria or watch a video

Chinenye Chukwudile’s story is shared below

After trying so hard to conceive, and consulting several doctors in Nigeria and performing 2 IUI in two different hospitals, I decided to consult with Dr Cosmas Onwudiwe Onuora who has been coming in yearly to do free consultation, surgeries and other forms of treatment for women in Nigeria. He prescribed Pregnitiude - a supplement that has a combination of Folic acid & Myo inositol. I conceived within a month of taking the supplement. This was my first shock and a sign that we really do not have reliable healthcare system, committed Doctors and other health professionals in Nigeria.

I chose a so called world standard hospital in Ikoyi-Lagos to do my prenatals. At 25 weeks, I came for one of my pre natal visits and I was diagnosed with high blood pressure. The nurse that took my vitals science asked if my bp has ever been this high in my life, I said yes and I had a miscarriage that period. I finally went in to see the OB/GYN & he said that there is no cause for alarm & that the bp is fine.

After few days, I was wheeled back to the same hospital with a case of severe pre-eclampsia. I was already convulsing and almost unconscious. My husband was asked to make a deposit of N300,000.00 before they would start treatment. That was around 1am in the morning & in a hospital where i registered & was attending my prenatals weekly. They even referred us to a government hospital where treatment could be cheaper as they felt my husband might not be able to raise the money immediately. However he paid them not wanting to take risk.

Not only did I lose the pregnancy, there was a serious battle to save my life as my BP was around 200/100. Meanwhile most of my friend's children in the U.S were born at 24 weeks & they all survived with no deformity.

These healthcare professionals are so nonchalant that at night, they take off their telephone extensions off the hook so they cannot be reached & they do not respond to emergency bells from patient's bed. I had a serious emergency one of the nights & when i got tired of ringing the emergency bell by the bedside, the patient beside me decided to call their telephone because she was scared that i was going to die. It kept on ringing busy until she walked out of the room to the nurse's station only to find out that they took out the phones off the hook so their night sleep will not be disturbed. Terrible!!!!!

Similar story goes for almost all members of my family & friends and precious lives were lost.

My ordeal in Nigerian hospitals is countless that’s why I am in full support of this Dr Onuorah's Initiative.

The story of Nigeria’s sickly sector in 2008 could be told by the family of late Dr. Enyi Okereke, a younger brother of the Nigerian Stock Exchange Director General, Prof. Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke. Enyi was an associate professor of orthopedics at the University of Pennsylvania, United States. Last month, the physician was one of the doctors that came to Enugu State to provide free medical services for the poor and teach medical students. The US-based doctor was at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu when he slumped. According to reports, the hospital did not have the basic equipment to provide alternative support for Enyi’s heart, neither did it have drugs needed to rescue him. Enyi died as staff of the hospital were looking for non-existing equipment. His colleagues and family must be thinking that the man would not have died, if he had not come home.

By Niyi Odebode