Alimosho Hospital Wahala: Patient Wait 8 Hours for Ear Pain, Get Appointment for 33 Days Later

Na serious wahala dey for Alimosho General Hospital for Lagos as one patient wey get ear pain wait from 8am reach 4pm just to see doctor for only two minutes. The patient, Taofik Sanni, wey be Communications Lead for PUNCH Media Foundation, yarn say im experience for Wednesday, March 18, 2026 na pure punishment for just being sick.

Sanni collect tag number 33 for morning, but na by 3:56pm dem call am to see doctor. After im explain say ear dey pain am, the doctor just give am small paper card and tell am to go back to where im collect tag. For there, one health worker tell am say im suppose come back April 31, 2026 to see ENT doctor by 8am. Na so Sanni waste im whole workday and still dey with ear pain wey no treat.

“How dem expect me to endure this kain pain for another 33 days?” Sanni ask. “My wife dey vex wella when she hear wetin happen, and even my office dey lose money because I no dey work. This hospital wahala no dey affect only patient but im family and im workplace.”

For the waiting area, one woman wey dey manage sickle cell disease yarn her own experience. She say she visit eye clinic for same Alimosho General Hospital before and get crisis while waiting for doctor. She talk say if hospital get enough doctors and better system, she for no suffer like that.

The hospital staff wey dey address patients that day warn dem say appointment dates go long. She point to other patients wey get appointments wey reach three months. She blame the problem on doctors wey dey travel abroad to work, and say that na why dem no get enough doctors for hospital.

This brain drain matter no new for Nigeria health sector. Dr Mohammad Suleiman, National President of Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, warn before say Nigeria health sector dey near breaking point. For 2024 alone, about 4,700 doctors leave Nigeria. With only 30,000 to 40,000 doctors for whole country to serve 240 million people, na one doctor to about 8,000 citizens.

WHO don project say shortage of health workers for Africa go reach 6.1 million by 2030. Nigerian government don talk about policies to stop doctors from traveling and to make working conditions better, but patients like Sanni still dey suffer long waits and poor treatment.

For Sanni case, after im finally see doctor, im still face another wahala. Im pay N2,000 and N1,000 for registration but no get the plastic hospital card wey im suppose collect. The cashier just give am small paper with number and no explain anything. By 4pm when im go ask about the card, one attendant snap for am and tell am to go ask the person wey im pay.

But accounts office don close for day, so Sanni leave hospital without examination, without medication, without im card, and without any information about how to get am. “Na punishment for being sick,” Sanni talk. “E human to fall sick, and e be government work to make sure people dey healthy. But between these two things, na will to make things work wey dey miss.”

This Alimosho General Hospital experience show bigger problem for Nigeria health system. Patients dey wait hours just to see doctor for few minutes, then get appointment for weeks or months later. Health workers dey behave anyhow, and communication between staff and patients poor wella.

As Sanni talk, wetin happen to am for Alimosho General Hospital na example of how Nigeria health problems dey cause pain not just for patients but for their families, their workplaces, and everyone wey depend on them. Until government take serious action to address doctor shortage and improve hospital systems, many Nigerians go continue to suffer like this.