From Ifeoma Ejiofor
Awaiting Bill Settlement(ABS), patients in selected hospitals have happily reunited with their families as the Nnewi Indigenes residing in Atlanta, Georgia, offset their treatment bills.
Patients in Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH), St Felix Catholic Hospital, Okolo Hospital, and Hope Specialist Hospital, all in Nnewi, benefitted from the 4th edition of the social intervention program of the group.
During the program, the bills of selected patients who have spent so much time in the hospital due to their inability to pay their treatment bills were settled.
The group’s representatives, Mrs. Grace Okeke, Mrs. Chioma Egbuonu, and Mrs Anigbogu Tawa C., visited the benefitting hospitals to present the relief package to the patients.
The leader of the delegation, Mrs Grace Okeke, in an interactive session with journalists, said that over five million Naira (N5m) was budgeted for the awaiting bill settlement patients in this year’s edition.
She pointed out that the larger part of patients at NAUTH Nnewi would take a chunk of the money budgeted for the 2023 edition of their intervention.
Mrs Okeke noted that the primary consideration for the beneficiaries is the longevity of time spent in the hospital after discharge.
She said that some of the beneficiaries had been discharged since August but could not go home because of their inability to settle their hospital bills.
Elder John Atuegwu, on behalf of himself and other beneficiaries, appreciated the philanthropic gesture of Nnewi Indigenes in Atlanta, Georgia.
He said that the group had given them the opportunity to smile again, as all hope was already lost before their intervention.
The ABS patient at Hope Specialist Hospital got three hundred thousand Naira (N300,000).
The Manager of St Felix Catholic Specialist Hospital, Rev Fr (Dr) Peter Uzochukwu, thanked the group for their annual philanthropy, which, according to him, will go a long way to stabilize the ailing persons.
The Chief Medical Director (CMD) of Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH) Nnewi, Prof Joseph Ugboaja (OON), also applauded the group for coming to the aid of the awaiting bill settlement patients.
He noted that things are so tough for the less privileged persons at the moment to the point that many people can hardly feed, not to talk of picking hospital treatment bills.
Prof Ugboaja expressed the preparedness of NAUTH to have a more robust collaboration with the Nnewi Indigenes in Atlanta.