The Patients Trauma Relief and Rights Advocacy Initiative (PATRRAi), a frontline civil society organization with a consistent record of intervening in cases of patient detention, hospital abuse, and medical-related human rights violations across Nigeria, strongly condemns the reported detention of a newborn baby by a private hospital in Osun State over an alleged unpaid medical bill of ₦700,000.
Over the years, PATRRAi has intervened in numerous cases involving the unlawful detention of patients-including women, accident victims, and children, often facilitating the release of vulnerable persons, mediating hospital bills, and ensuring that medical debt disputes are resolved without resort to coercion or rights-violating practices. It is against this background of sustained engagement and advocacy that we view this reported incident with profound concern.
The alleged action of detaining a newborn after being medically certified fit for discharge constitutes a grave violation of the child’s fundamental rights and offends both the conscience of society and the ethical foundations of medical practice. A newborn child cannot be held as leverage for debt recovery. Such conduct is inconsistent with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Child Rights Act, and established professional medical standards.
In a Press statement signed by the Secretary of PATRRAi, it reiterates that while healthcare providers are entitled to recover legitimate medical costs, detention of patients or infants for inability to pay hospital bills is unlawful and indefensible. Financial disputes arising from medical care are civil matters and must be addressed through lawful, humane, and ethical processes. They must never be resolved by depriving individual, particularly children – of liberty or exposing families to further trauma.
Beyond the immediate incident, this case underscores a persistent and troubling pattern within Nigeria’s healthcare system, where financial hardship is too often met with punitive measures rather than compassion, mediation, or institutional support. Such practices deepen public distrust in healthcare delivery and place vulnerable patients at unacceptable risk.
Accordingly, PATRRAi calls for:
1. The immediate and unconditional release of the newborn, where this has not already occurred.
2. Urgent intervention by the Osun State Ministry of Health and relevant child-protection authorities to investigate the matter and ensure accountability.
3. Regulatory review and appropriate action by relevant professional bodies should ethical or legal breaches be established.
4. Institutional reforms and engagement to promote patient-centred billing practices, mediation mechanisms, and respect for human rights in healthcare settings.
Consistent with its mandate, PATRRAi stands ready to engage all relevant stakeholders to facilitate a humane resolution, including mediation between the hospital and the affected family, and to prevent a recurrence of such incidents. No child, mother, or patient should be subjected to trauma, indignity, or unlawful detention in the course of seeking medical care.
PATRRAi will continue to monitor this case and will not hesitate to deploy all lawful advocacy mechanisms necessary to protect patient rights and uphold ethical healthcare practices in Nigeria.
Secretary
The Patients Trauma Relief and Rights Advocacy Initiative (PATRRAi)
info@patrrai.org