Doctor Reacts to News of Pregnant Woman Who Passed Away at a Hospital Due to N500K Deposit

• Nigerian doctor Dr. Penking warns against condemning a hospital where a pregnant woman died after being asked to pay a ₦500,000 deposit for treatment.

• Dr. Penking shared a personal experience to highlight the challenges hospitals face, despite the outrage over the hospital’s alleged refusal to provide urgent care.

A Nigerian doctor, Dr. Penking, has cautioned against rushing to condemn the hospital where a pregnant woman reportedly passed away after being asked to pay a ₦500,000 deposit before receiving treatment.

The tragic incident sparked outrage online, with many criticizing the hospital’s alleged refusal to provide urgent care. However, Dr. Penking urged the public to consider the challenges hospitals face, sharing a personal experience to highlight the issue.

According to him, he once borrowed money to pay for a patient’s medication out of goodwill, only for the patient to disappear once their condition improved, leaving the debt unpaid.

He emphasized that while medical ethics prioritize saving lives, hospitals are often faced with financial constraints due to cases where patients fail to settle their bills.

His statement has since ignited a debate, with some agreeing that hospitals struggle with non-paying patients, while others maintain that emergency care should always come first, regardless of financial concerns.

Dr Penking wrote …

“I saw a post where a pregnant woman died after the hospital insisted on them making a deposit of 500k before attending to her. Many people are cursing the hospital calling the Doctors evil. But please stay with me.

It is easy to get emotional in situations like this, but hospitals are usually pushed to this tight corner due to experiences in the past. I managed a little private practice in a community in Ekiti state sometime in 2021. When I started,

I was so selfless and would manage every case first and ask for money before discharge. Most times people paid back my kindness with wickedness.

In a particular quite interesting case , a 19 year old girl had used local methods to carry out an abortion and there were complications.

She was rushed in unconscious, with fever of 41 degrees Celsius

Heart rate of 155bpm, respiratory rate of 32c/m. iv Rocephin was one of the antibiotics we knew would save her life. The hospital pharmacy did not have it and I prescribed for them to buy outside. When they went to check the price they realized they could not afford it. Her mother wailed like a child. Rocephin (an apex brand of Ceftriaxone) is one of the very expensive antibiotics in Nigeria.

I could not stand seeing her die because of money so I dipped my hand inside my pocket and gave her mom money to go buy the antibiotics. I spent 121 000 Naira in total, I borrowed part of the money, hoping I would get it back when she became well.

Day after day, after filing in vials and vials of Rocephin, Slowly she came out of her coma and her symptoms started resolving. Everyone was happy. I feel fulfilled

I came to work one morning to meet the most rude shock of my life.

Itunu had disappeared from the hospital with her mother,

without paying the hospital bills or refunding the money I borrowed to buy antibiotics for her.

At that point I made a very difficult decision for the rest of my stay there, not to ever leave the Doctor’s lodge

until the nurses confirmed that the patient had made a deposit and never to dip my hands in my pocket again. Of course people called me a heartless and wicked Doctor, but they had no idea about the experiences that brought me there.”