Greetings!
One thing about people is that they can't be trusted. If one is not careful, those people that claim that they are trying to help you are the ones that would even try to scam you if care is not taken. I have witnessed that before and just recently, this weekend I was scammed by some health practitioners in a well known hospital in the city where I reside.
It all happened because my wife wanted to give birth in the early hours of Sunday as the symptoms started on Saturday as she was having contractions. So, when we saw this signs, we quickly rushed to the hospital and on getting to the hospital, we were directed to the hospital emergency department and on getting to the emergency department, we were redirected to the labour ward and this was the place where all the scam began.
When we got to the place, the doctor on duty was to harsh on my wife and this was because he was of the opinion that my wife was not cooperating with him and just because of this, she asked us to get four pants of blood instead of one and this was at the rate of 20k per one which makes it 80k in all.
After that, my wife delivered and she had tears and we were billed to pay a huge amount of money and when I pleaded with them, they told me that because of what I had passed through, they would help me to reduce the money from 250k to 170k.
When I heard them saying this, I prostrated for them as a sign of appreciation for what they are trying to do for me and they asked me not to mention. So, instead of me paying the money into the designated account of the the government who owns the hospital, one of them who happened to be the matron on duty on the said date told me saying,
“Mr. Sam, you know we have helped you reduce the price that you are supposed to pay for your wife's treatment, now, you will not pay into the normal account of the government. I will give you the account you will have to pay the money into.”
However, since I had thought they had helped me to reduce the money to be paid, I quickly asked them to give me the account number which they did instantly.
So, immediately the account number was given to me, I didn't waste time, all I did was to send the money into the account of one of them.
Although, what they told me was that,
“Mr. Sam, if you should get the surgery pack from the hospital, it will cost you nothing less than 247k, but since we are using the one we have with us, that's why we asked you to pay less, but you must not tell anybody.” “Okay ma,” I answered the matron with gratitude.
So, after the payment we were moved to the children ward where those that just gave birth are used to take to after birth and after we got there, one of the labour ward accountant came to the ward and asked me why we have not paid for the delivery, when I heard this, I told her saying,
“Madam, we have paid the delivery fee, I even paid 170k.” When the woman heard this she was shocked and asked me to follow her to her office. When we got to her office, she questioned me further and it was in the course of our discussion that she told me that for the treatment that my wife got after the tear she had after the delivery, I was only meant to pay 51k and that I have been scammed.
So, when she had told me this, I asked her saying,
“Ma, what's now the way forward?” She replied and said, “the only way forward lies with me.” “How?” I asked.
That's when she told me that she can only help me to report the case to those in authority if I can pay her some certain amount of money and not even only that, but that I must also provide concrete evidence of how much I paid and the account that I paid the money into.
Although I had all the necessary evidence with me, why should I still pay her even in cash because she can help me. So, I told her that since I will be paying her too, I'm not interested in her assistance again and that's how she asked me to go and pay the delivery fee that she had come to ask me to pay earlier and I went to pay and that's how we were discharged.
Fortunately for me, as we were packing our thing to leave the ward, a friend of mine who happened to be a senior consultant in the hospital called and told me that I should wait for him, he said one of our friends just called him and told him that my wife just gave birth and that he also explained everything that had happened to him.
So, when he came to the ward I was in, everyone on duty was standing to pay him due respect and it's at that particular time I got to know that Daniel was not just an ordinary staff member of the hospital, but a top officer.
As he was approaching where we were I walked up to meet him and when I finally met him, I hugged him and he congratulated me and asked me all that had happened. It was then I explained everything to him and he promised to take the matter up, he told me that my money will be refunded and that anyone found guilty would be punished.
So, we left the ward and the hospital and as he had said, the money that I paid in excess was refunded but I have never heard of what became of those culprits till today.
Thanks for reading.
Picture sourced from metaAi.