…Victims share heartbreaking stories
About a year ago, what should have been a story of survival turned into a tragedy for Chetachi Kola’s (not his real name) close friend.
After enduring a 13-hour cancer surgery at a teaching hospital in southern Nigeria, his friend was placed on oxygen to recover. But recovery never came, and the hospital’s oxygen plant suddenly failed. Within minutes, he was gone.
“After 13 hours, my friend died because the oxygen plant suddenly went off. We tried running around to private centers to get oxygen cans, but before we returned, he passed on,” Kola told BusinessDay.
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In another part of the country, Eleojoh Wada faced a different ordeal. When she visited a federal medical center in northern Nigeria to investigate a persistent discomfort, she discovered the hospital couldn’t run a simple thyroid function test.
“I noticed some discomfort in my body and decided to visit the Federal Medical Center (FMC). They did not have the facilities to run a thyroid function test, so I was referred to a private facility where I paid double of what I was supposed to pay at FMC,” she said.
For this report, BusinessDay visited or made virtual enquiries from at least one public hospital across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones. The list included the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH), Federal Medical Center (FMC) Keffi, a Primary Healthcare Center (PHC) in Kano, National Hospital Abuja, University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH) Enugu, Bwari General Hospital Abuja, Ojo PHC Lagos, and Alimosho General Hospital Lagos.
The team witnessed recurring failures – from power outages during surgery and patients dying when ventilators failed, to blood transfusions conducted on bare floors to hours-long waits caused by non-functional automated systems.
The findings point to a public healthcare system on the brink.
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Data reviewed by BusinessDay and other sources show that most public hospitals in rural communities are overstretched and lack even basic diagnostic facilities. Poor sanitation and decaying infrastructure are widespread in these areas.
At Amananta Healh Centre in Ebonyi State, roofs were leaky and windows, broken. Water was lacking as well as facilities for blood pressure and malarial tests. Though women often had babies delivered in the health centre, facilities were either borrowed or hired.
A report by MonITNg, after visiting a general hospital in northwestern Nigeria, described the situation as ‘disheartening.’
“What we saw at this general hospital on the 7th of November, 2025, is disheartening. No one should have this kind of experience,” the report read. “Patients receiving blood transfusions on mats or bare floors because there were no hospital beds enough to accommodate them,” the report added.
A source familiar with operations at a South-South state teaching hospital said the situation was ‘precarious,’ adding that the hospital frequently refers complex cases to UBTH because of inadequate facilities.
“I have used this facility for years, and from my experience, they always refer complex tests to UBTH,” he said. “An investigation should be carried out on the management of funds at this hospital.”
One X user recently wrote about how poor power management disrupted his mother’s life-saving surgery.
“My mother was rescheduled for surgery four times at the University Teaching Hospital in the South-South. Due to poor management and power outage. I had to take her to a private hospital to conclude the surgery,” he said.
BusinessDay’s investigation also revealed that most computed tomography (CT) machines in public hospitals are outdated, many purchased before the COVID-19 era. This has resulted in cases of misdiagnosis, mistreatment, and preventable deaths.
“In some hospitals, they have to schedule surgeries based on the severity of the case and the availability of ventilators at that time,” one medical source explained.
“Sometimes, when you cut a patient open, you realise the ailment has advanced far beyond what was diagnosed, and you have to start all over again,” the source explained.
“Also very few hospitals have gas plants, and sometimes ventilators stop working mid-surgery. You only discover when the patient has passed on,” the source added.
While some public hospitals in major cities are faring relatively better, many others struggle with malfunctioning machines, grounded ambulances, and failing infrastructure.
Long waiting hours remain a defining feature of care at most public facilities. Poor automation, erratic power supply, and understaffing combine to slow service delivery to a crawl.
“Only very few hospitals in the South-East have modern facilities, and they are mostly private,” one health expert noted. “The few that exist in public hospitals are often marred by poor maintenance culture, so they easily malfunction.”
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The stories, though from different regions, echo a shared reality that Nigeria’s public hospitals are running out of breath, and too often, so are their patients.
Several experts and insiders who spoke with BusinessDay requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the information they shared.
State of PHC in a rural area somewhere in Nigeria. (Photo Credit: secondary source)
Implications
Experts warn that Nigeria’s failing health facilities are costing lives and deepening distrust in the system. “Every syringe of injection or treatment given from a misdiagnosis endangers Nigerian lives,” said Kelechi Joshua, a public health analyst, highlighting how outdated equipment turns hospitals into danger zones.
For Taiwo Obindo, president of the Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria, the collapse of public healthcare has fueled illegitimate practice. “The lack of standard facilities in public hospitals has resulted in non-licensed centers, breeding quackery,” he said.
Stephanie Omoarebun, laboratory scientist, noted that obsolete labs “lead to inaccurate diagnosis, increased treatment failures, erode trust and drive patients toward private or foreign services.”
A senior surgeon described how poor ambulance services and bad roads have become silent killers, forcing doctors to ration care due to scarce equipment.
“The system is just like a dark hole,” said Olabode Karunwi, a health consultant. “It is a total reflection of a healthcare structure on the brink.”
Shocking statistics
Nigeria’s healthcare system is critically under-resourced and dangerously unprepared. According to Dataphyte (2020), “Only one ventilator exists for every 1.2 million Nigerians,” a scenario experts warn could be catastrophic during emergencies or pandemics. Hospital bed capacity is just 0.9 per 1,000 people, below Africa’s average of 1.0 and far beneath the global average of 2.7, the World Health Organization (WHO) said. This leaves millions at risk of being turned away. Nigeria ranks 187th out of 191 countries in the WHO Health Systems Performance Index. Also, out of the 34,076 PHC centers, only 6,815 – about 20 percent – are fully functional, meaning that four out of five centers fail to provide even basic care, according to reports by Sara and her team in an article published in BMJ Global Health.
Government efforts
According to available data, the Nigerian government, working with development partners and the private sector, has intensified efforts to revitalise PHCs nationwide. Since 2017, a renovation programme has upgraded 10,000 PHC facilities, improving essential medicine supplies, equipment, and staffing, with 110 centres strengthened in the first phase. Complementing this, the WHO and the Private Sector Health Alliance of Nigeria (PSHAN) launched the Adopt-A-Healthcare Facility Programme to establish PHC centres of international standards across all 774 local government areas. Recent milestones include commissioning of an MRI centre at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH), the African Medical Centre of Excellence in Abuja, and granting of import waivers on medical equipment. Yet critical gaps persist.
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(Newly commissioned MRI lab at UMTH)
Where do we go from here?
Experts say Nigeria’s healthcare sector requires a transformative shift from short-term service delivery to sustainable, data-driven systems. “We need to remodel healthcare beyond just service delivery and start building systems heavily reliant on data to ensure accurate decision-making,” said Stephanie. Recommendations include increased funding, transparent monitoring of resources, robust capacity-building, and exchange programmes exposing professionals to local and international best practices. “Encouraging exchange programmes among healthcare professionals is key to tackling this menace,” one analyst noted. Experts also emphasise automation, routine equipment maintenance, safety for rural healthcare workers, and compulsory health insurance. “A compulsory insurance coverage for everyone is key to moving forward,” noted Olabode, earlier quoted. Countries such as Rwanda and Kenya show how digital systems enable virtual appointments, remote minor-case care, and real-time health monitoring.
