HMOs, others owed UBTH over N800 million – CMD

Prof Darlington Obaseki, the outgoing Chief Medical Director of University of Benin Teaching Hospital, UBTH, said Health Maintenance Organisations, HMOs, and corporate clients are owing the hospital over N800 million.

DAILY POST reports that Prof Obaseki disclosed this during a media chat with newsmen in Benin City after tour of facilities as part of activities to mark the end of his tenure as the Chief Medical Director of the teaching hospital.

He said the amount which are for healthcare services rendered to individuals of the respective organisations are different from debts others patients are owing the hospital.

According to him, a lot of patients are owing the hospital.

“Health Maintenance Organisations are owing us almost N500 million, corporate clients another about N300 million.

“The debts owning the hospital is huge,” he said.

The Chief Medical Director, who dismissed the notion of expensive healthcare cost in the hospital, noted that the management does everything possible to recover costs so that the next patient will benefit.

While noting that there was no subsidy or other funds coming to the hospital from the Federal Government apart from the money for the payment of workers salaries and capital projects added that they are running at a very huge loss.

“What I always tell my staff when they will be complaining of us not breaking even, is that we must do everything possible to recover costs.

“UBTH is subsidizing the services of patients heavily. the Federal government doesn’t always bring money for the running of the hospital except for the payment of monthly salaries and capital projects.

“No subsidy is coming from anywhere. We are running at a high cost. I have worked very hard to ensure that our people get the best of medical services.

“We introduced premium funds for those that are well endowed and have more money. Instead of them going to a private hospital which we believe that the quality of care they get there is not as much of what they get in UBTH to come to the hospital and pay the same amount they would have paid in the private hospital.

“By so doing we can use part of the money to keep subsidizing, and that is how we have been surviving. We are trying to charge higher from premium patients, those that are wealthy and rich.

“It is a kind of insurance policy. But if it is for the little money we are charging from people like me and you this hospital would have long closed down. So we have been trying to be ingenious on how we run the services”, he added.

He, however, sued for cooperations and support to enable the hospital to continuously deliver accessible and quality healthcare services to the public.

Obaseki further disclosed that the hospital received 140 referrals from Abuja, Anambra, Lagos, Kogi, Delta, Bayelsa and Ondo States in the month of July.

He also added that most of the best private hospitals within the state referred patients to the hospital.