Patients in Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital Bauchi have advocated for decentralization of the payment points of Medical bills to ease their suffering.
This followed the untold hardship being experienced at the limited payment centres as a result of the large number of patients trying to make payment of their Medical bills.
It is the established principle of the hospital that patients must queued at the designated points to obtain the receipt before gaining access to any form of Medical services.
Radio Nigeria Correspondent who monitored the situation observed that at about ten O’clock in the morning, patients converged on the busiest pay point designed to attend to patients from NHIS, antenatal, GOPD and Maternity, reports that only a single person was attending to dozens of patients.
The slow face process according to some of the complainants Kabiru Ibrahim and Hafsat Yakubu is not favourable to especially patients sicking for emergency services.
They however called on the management to open more centres with a view to address the problem.
When contacted, the Chairman Medical Advisory Committe of the Hospital Sa’ad Abubakar Kadas attributed the development to electricity power failure and engaging the services of bank Officials in the payment process to discourage corruption.
According to him, as a Teaching Hospital, the Facility is expected to entertain only complicating medical issues and conducting research but not patients whose treatment can be manage by primary healthcare centres, General or Specialists Hospital.
Isiyaka Ismail Wunti