….Clears Hospital Debts, Sets Sights on 100 Beneficiaries in 2027
A United Kingdom-based Nigerian entrepreneur and healthcare professional, Toba Ogunremi, has funded no fewer than 43 emergency surgeries for indigent pregnant women and new mothers in Ogun State, in a major humanitarian effort aimed at reducing maternal mortality.
The intervention, which has directly impacted over 40 beneficiaries across selected hospitals, focused on critical obstetric cases such as Caesarean sections, eclampsia, prolonged labour, and post-delivery complications.
Beyond sponsoring surgeries, Ogunremi also settled outstanding hospital bills for several women who had successfully delivered but were unable to leave medical facilities due to unpaid fees.
According to him, many of the affected patients were detained in hospitals over relatively small financial balances, which he cleared to facilitate their discharge and continued recovery.
He recounted the case of Mrs M.K., who was admitted on March 13 with severe complications, including eclampsia and cord prolapse.
Her total hospital bill stood at N430,000, out of which only N169,600 had been paid, leaving a balance of N260,400 that was eventually offset through Ogunremi’s intervention.
Similarly, another beneficiary, Mrs O. Kehinde, who was admitted on April 17 for prolonged labour, had accumulated a bill of N380,000.
After paying N103,500, she was left with an outstanding balance of N276,500, which Ogunremi also settled to secure her discharge.
Ogunremi noted that in some instances, as little as N70,000 stood between patients and their freedom from hospital detention, highlighting the depth of financial hardship faced by many families.
He added that an additional N155,000 was recently expended at a general hospital to support other emergency cases requiring urgent attention.
In one notable instance, Mrs Kehinde reportedly received financial assistance twice before she could finally be discharged due to her family’s inability to raise funds.
Explaining the motivation behind his intervention, Ogunremi said the initiative was born out of a personal encounter that left a lasting impression on him.
“It started with a feeling I couldn’t shake,” he said, recalling how he once met a desperate husband seeking help at a hospital gate.
He said seeing the man later with his wife and newborn child reinforced his resolve to support vulnerable patients in need of urgent care.
“That moment stayed with me and pushed me to start visiting hospitals, not just as a professional, but as someone who could not look away,” he said.
Ogunremi revealed that many of the cases he encountered involved women who had either just given birth or were in need of life-saving procedures but lacked the financial means to access care.
“We found mothers who had just given life but were held back because they couldn’t pay. Some needed urgent surgeries and had no one to help,” he added
He explained that beneficiaries were identified through referrals from healthcare workers, including ward managers, nurses, and resident doctors.
“There was no formal selection process. It was based on immediate need, often a doctor saying, ‘This patient needs help today,’” he noted.
Ogunremi also commended Nigerian doctors for their competence, stating that the country’s healthcare challenges are largely systemic rather than professional.
“The issue has never been the competence of our doctors but the system that fails both practitioners and patients,” he said.
While declining to disclose the total amount spent, he estimated that the intervention had cost tens of millions of naira, all directed solely at patient care.
Looking ahead, Ogunremi expressed his intention to scale up the initiative to reach at least 100 beneficiaries by 2027.
He, however, stressed the need for a more structured system to identify and support genuinely indigent patients in a timely manner.
“My goal is to reach about 100 people, but we need a better system to know who truly needs help,” he said.
He called on individuals and well-meaning Nigerians to support vulnerable citizens, noting that many preventable deaths occur due to financial constraints rather than lack of medical expertise.
“People are dying because they cannot pay for treatment, not because solutions don’t exist. We must act, even if it is one person at a time,” he urged.
Ogunremi reiterated that his focus on maternal health stems from the devastating impact of losing women during childbirth.
“A woman dying in childbirth is not just a statistic; it is a family tragedy. No woman should die while giving life,” he said.
Public health experts have consistently raised concerns about Nigeria’s high maternal mortality rate, linking it to poverty, limited access to healthcare, and inadequate funding in the sector.
The intervention has therefore been widely regarded as a timely and life-saving contribution to addressing one of the country’s most pressing public health challenges.
