By James Ogunnaike, Abeokuta

A United Kingdom-based Nigerian entrepreneur and healthcare professional, Toba Ogunremi, has funded no fewer than 43 emergency surgeries and settled hospital bills for indigent pregnant women and new mothers in Ogun State, in a sustained intervention aimed at reducing maternal mortality.

The initiative, which has so far benefited over 43 women across selected hospitals, focused on critical obstetric cases such as Caesarean sections, eclampsia, prolonged labour and post-delivery complications.

Ogunremi disclosed that several of the beneficiaries had completed treatment but were unable to leave the hospital due to outstanding bills, some of which he described as relatively small.

“In a number of cases, what stood between these women and discharge was as little as N70,000. That tells you how severe the financial barriers are for many families,” he said.

He cited the case of a woman who was admitted on March 13 with eclampsia and cord prolapse. Her total hospital bill stood at N430,000, of which N169,600 had been paid, leaving a balance of N260,400 that was eventually cleared by Ogunremi.

Similarly, Mrs. O. Kehinde, admitted on April 17 for prolonged labour, had paid N103,500 out of a total bill of N380,000, leaving an outstanding balance of N276,500, which was also settled.

Ogunremi further revealed that an additional N155,000 was recently expended at a general hospital to support emergency cases.

He noted that Mrs Kehinde had to receive financial assistance twice before she could be discharged, owing to her family’s inability to raise the required funds.

Recounting the inspiration behind the intervention, Ogunremi said a chance encounter with a distressed husband at a hospital gate years ago left a lasting impression on him.

“It started with a feeling I couldn’t shake. I later saw the man again with his wife and child. That moment stayed with me and pushed me to start visiting hospitals, not as a professional, but as someone who could not look away.”

He lamented that many of the cases he encountered involved women detained in hospitals after childbirth or those unable to access life-saving procedures due to financial constraints.

“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 said.

According to him, beneficiaries were identified through referrals from ward managers, nurses and resident doctors who flagged urgent cases requiring immediate intervention.

“There was no formal selection process. It was based on immediate need, often a doctor saying, ‘this patient needs help today,’” he explained.

Ogunremi, however, commended Nigerian medical professionals for their competence despite systemic challenges.

“The issue has never been the competence of our doctors, but the system that fails both practitioners and patients,” he said.

He stated that the intervention had cost tens of millions of naira, all of which went directly into patient care without administrative overhead.

Looking ahead, he expressed his intention to scale up the programme to reach at least 100 beneficiaries next year, while calling for a more structured system to identify those most in need.

“My goal is to reach about 100 people, but we need a better system to know who truly needs help. So far, we rely on encounters and referrals from healthcare workers,” he said.

He also urged individuals and well-meaning Nigerians to support vulnerable citizens, stressing that many preventable deaths occur due to the inability to afford healthcare rather than lack of medical solutions.

“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 said.

Reiterating his focus on maternal health, Ogunremi described the loss of women during childbirth as a devastating tragedy for families and communities.

“A woman dying in childbirth is not just a statistic; it is a family tragedy. No woman should die while giving life,” he said.