At a hospital located about 100 metres after Jikwoyi Phase 2 bus stop in Abuja, a couple brought in their baby who was breathing heavily. The reporter, who was at the facility, observed that the doctor, after some diagnosis, asked the father of the child why it took him so long to bring his child to the hospital, noting that the baby’s situation was so bad.

The father told the doctor that he and the wife had been taken the child to a pharmacist for treatment until that morning when the pharmacist told him to quickly rush the child to a hospital as his case was serious.

The doctor referred the child to the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital at Gwagwalada for him to be attended to by specialists and he had to be taken away by his parent.  This mistake by the couple appears to be prevalent in most homes, as many people either resort to self-medication or visit pharmacy stores for treatments when sick.

Mama Tina, a resident of Jikwoyi Phase 2 said because of the economic situation in the country, she can no longer afford to go to the Nyanya General Hospital. “When you get to the hospital and complain of any illness, the doctor will first of all write series of tests for you and you will end up spending above N10,000 or even more as the case may be.

“For example, a test for malaria/ full blood count cost N5,500 in the hospital while some pharmacists make arrangements with laboratories around their stores to do such test for N3,000,” she said.

A laboratory staff of the hospital who pleaded anonymity said test for culture and wider test for typhoid cost N3,000 and N2,000, respectively.

“Electrolyte, Urea, Creatinine (EUCR) cost N4000; Liver function test cost N4000; Hormonal Access test cost N4000; X-ray cost N9000 and Scanning cost N5000,” he disclosed.

Habiba Yusuf, another resident in Jikwoyi , complained of the overcrowding of Nyanya General Hospital as well as the attitude some of the staff.

“Honestly, since I cannot afford to go for treatment at a private hospital, I have been coming to this pharmacy for the past three years  for treatment and they have always attended to me well with the right diagnoses,” she added.

Another resident, Malam Osumah Abdul, a retiree, said he applies self-medication on his children. He said when he was working and enrolled under a healthcare provider to take care of his immediate family’s healthcare bills, they were going to the hospital, but after he retired, they resort to self-medication because he couldn’t afford to continue with the private hospital due to lack of finance. “For example this my six year-old son suffers at times from inflammation and the drugs the doctor was recommending for him during that time we were attending the hospital is what I still purchase for him to take and it works,” Abdul said.

Reacting to the issue, Dr. Wisdom Ihejieto, a consultant/public health physician as well as the immediate past chairman of the Guild of Medical Directors, FCT Chapter, warned that going to alternative healthcare sources like the chemist, especially where there are no trained pharmacists, could lead to missing out on very important diagnoses which could ultimately lead to worsen health condition.

He said the pharmacist’s major role is to dispense drugs to patients after a prescription from a medical doctor, who has the key role in assessing the clinical condition of the patient and coming-up with a prescription. “However, the pharmacist has a role in treating minor health conditions and abnormalities as they are essentially trained in pharmaceuticals, drugs and its compositions,” he stated.

Dr Ihejieto, who also doubles as the medical director of Arewa Clinic and Maternity, lamented that the cost of medical treatment is creating a huge burden towards the delivery of value added healthcare in the country.

According to him, the cost of running health facilities, especially with high inflationary trends and high medicament as well as medical services, has impacted negatively in the delivery of good health services, thus imparting negatively towards the delivery of universal healthcare.

He said proprietors of private healthcare institutions are passing through tremendous cost in running their facilities and they have no choice than to transfer part of it to patients.

“Most hospitals, especially those in the private sector spend so much in acquiring diesel and PMS for the running of essential and basic infrastructures in the hospitals, thus making services to be run at highly inflated costs,” he disclosed.

He stated further that the increase rate of multiple taxations from government and other associated bodies has worsened the situation as all sections of government come in with different taxes especially those relating to private proprietors.

Dr. Ihejieto further lamented that there is essentially no tax rebate for operators of private healthcare institutions, especially in the FCT as well as the country in general.

He also criticized the poor coverage of the National Health Insurance Scheme, which he said covers less than five per cent of Nigerians since its inception in 2005. “This has also not reduced the burden on the populace as most Nigerians are paying out of pocket for health services and this is very difficult for most Nigerians,” he disclosed.

He said most people cannot afford healthcare services with a minimum wage of N30,000 in the last count, adding that they look for poor alternative sources, which at most times lead to death as the alternative sources are not comparable established sources were trained medical personnel are available.

The doctor warned against going to spiritual leaders to seek medical treatment or to engage in self-medication.

“Spirituality cannot be an alternative to orthodox medicine with due respect to our spiritual fathers and self-medication on its own is worse as an alternative as most drugs have side effects that could lead to minor abnormalities from drug reaction to death,” he warned.

He warned further that it is not advisable to indulge in self-medication as one can’t tell the level of damage some medication can cause in the body, especially the major organs like the liver, kidney, heart and muscle-skeletal systems of the body.

“Side effect like chronic liver disease has arisen due to self-medication with herbal preparation that had adverse effect on the liver. Such chronic liver diseases are a major cause of liver cancer and liver pathologist,” he said.

The doctor advised people to avoid self-medication at any cost and called on government to adopt health education as a policy to eradicate the health menace.

He also called for improved funding of the health sector by government in order to reduce the cost of medical delivery which will in turn reduce self -medication and its associated adverse effects.