Patients flee hospital over lack of bill payment

Three patients at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital reportedly sneaked out of the health facility without paying the balance of their bills running into hundreds of thousands of naira.

The patients, it was gathered, were due for discharge, but were left in the hospital because they could not pay the balance of their bills.

According to reports, the incident, which happened at the Gynaecology Unit of the UPTH on Tuesday, May 14, 2019, caused confusion among medical workers in the unit.

It was learnt that one of the senior medical workers in the unit was furious with the security personnel on duty when the incident happened.

The gate was only opened when doctors and other health workers came in to do their jobs while only a few visitors were allowed into the unit on self-recognition.

A source at the hospital told PUNCH correspondent that the development forced them to lock the gate leading to the unit in order to forestall a recurrence of the incident.

It was learnt that one of the private security personnel was queried for failing to notice when the patients sneaked out of the facility.

However, some visitors to the unit, who came to see their ailing relatives, were barred from entering the hospital the following day because of the incident.