UK-Nigeria: A reset building on the past and leaping into the future, By Sunday Dare

The increase in admission deposits for the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) by the management of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), from N500,000 to N1 million, has sparked reactions among residents in Edo State.

DAILY POST reports that the increase represents a 100 per cent hike in the cost of accessing critical care services at the hospital.

The office of the Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee (CMAC), disclosed this in an internal memorandum dated January 30, 2026. The memo approved an upward review of ward consumables and admission deposits across the hospital.

Other new admission deposit increments include: N150,000 for medical wards, N200,000 for private wards, N100,000 for day-case admissions, N150,000 for orthopaedic wards, N200,000 for neuro wards and N150,000 for obstetrics and gynaecology wards

Ward consumables were also reviewed upward to N20,000 per week for patients in the Labour and Emergency Complex, while ordinary wards will now attract N15,000 per week.

The memo said the review became necessary in view of prevailing funding realities and the need to promote efficiency, reduce waste, and enhance the maintenance and procurement of medical consumables.

It added that under the revised structure, ICU admission will now require a deposit of N1 million, while the Labour Ward Complex deposit has been fixed at N200,000. According to the memo, the adjustments are aimed at ensuring sustainable hospital operations and improving service delivery.

Meanwhile, the development has sparked reactions among residents, many of whom took to social media to criticise the teaching hospital authorities.

In their responses, residents decried what they described as an astronomical increase in hospital charges and the reported privatisation of laboratory services at the Accident and Emergency (A&E) unit.

Reacting, the Head of the Public Relations and Information Unit of the hospital, Osaretin Iyen, said the private laboratory service engaged at the A&E unit was introduced to complement the hospital’s existing diagnostic services.

Iyen explained that the laboratory is intended to function alongside UBTH’s laboratories to augment capacity and efficiency, not to replace or supplant the hospital’s core laboratory services.

He added that there are over ten functional laboratories across the hospital.

He further stated that the decision was taken strictly in the overriding interest of patient care and safety, particularly for critically ill patients whose survival depends on immediate and uninterrupted access to laboratory investigations.

“This is especially when there are challenges with the UBTH laboratory in the Accident and Emergency unit,” Iyen said.

Reactions trail UBTH’s increases of medical bills by 100 per cent