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Toba Ogunremi, a Nigerian entrepreneur and healthcare professional based in the UK, has funded life-saving emergency surgeries and paid hospital bills for 43 destitute pregnant women and new mothers in Ogun State, in a targeted intervention aimed at reducing preventable maternal deaths.
The initiative, carried out in selected public health facilities in the state, addressed critical obstetric emergencies including cesarean sections, eclampsia, prolonged labor, cord prolapse and postpartum complications.
Ogunremi also paid off outstanding hospital debts that had kept several new mothers in detention after giving birth, in some cases for relatively small sums that delayed discharge and prolonged suffering.
Among the beneficiaries was Mrs. MK, admitted on March 13 with eclampsia and cord prolapse. His total bill was N430,000, of which N169,600 had been paid, leaving a balance of N260,400, which was paid in full to enable his discharge.
Another patient, Mrs O. Kehinde, admitted on April 17 for prolonged labour, had an outstanding balance of N276,500 after an initial payment of N103,500 out of a total bill of N380,000. The debt was also paid in full thanks to the intervention.
In many other cases, Ogunremi said as little as $70,000 stood between patients and discharge, describing the situation as a stark reflection of the financial barriers vulnerable families face in accessing maternal healthcare.
He also revealed that an additional N155,000 was spent in a general hospital to support other emergency cases, adding that one beneficiary received assistance twice before she could finally be discharged due to her family’s inability to raise funds.
Ogunremi said the speech was born out of a personal experience that reshaped his view of access to healthcare in Nigeria.
“It all started with a feeling I couldn’t shake,” he said. “Years ago I met a desperate husband at the gate of a hospital. I later saw him again with his wife and son. That moment stayed with me and inspired me to start visiting hospitals, not as a professional, but as someone who couldn’t look away.”
He said many of the cases he encountered involved women detained after giving birth or unable to undergo emergency procedures due to poverty.
“We found mothers who had just donated their lives but were held back because they couldn’t pay. Some needed urgent surgeries and had no one to help them,” he said.
According to him, the beneficiaries were identified through reports from department managers, nurses and doctors who reported emergency cases requiring immediate financial support.
“There was no formal selection process. It was based on immediate need: Doctors would simply say, ‘This patient needs help today,'” he explained.
Ogunremi stressed that all procedures were performed by Nigerian medical personnel, whom he praised for their expertise despite systemic constraints.
“The problem has never been the competence of our doctors, but the system that fails both professionals and patients,” he said.
While he declined to state the total amount spent, he said the surgery cost “tens of millions of naira,” all of which went solely towards patient care with no administrative deductions.
Looking ahead, he said the project will be expanded to cover at least 100 beneficiaries in 2027, while calling for a more structured mechanism to identify and support indigent patients.
“My goal is to reach around 100 people, but we need a better system to know who really needs help. So far we rely on meetings and referrals from health workers,” he said.
She also urged greater individual and institutional support for vulnerable patients, warning that many maternal deaths remain financially determined rather than medically inevitable.
“People are dying because they can’t pay for treatment, not because there are no solutions. We need to act, even if it’s one person at a time,” he said.
Ogunremi said her focus on maternal health was influenced by the emotional and social impact of maternal loss.
“A woman dying in childbirth is not just a statistic; it is a family tragedy. No woman should die giving her life,” she said.
Health experts continue to link Nigeria’s high maternal mortality rate to poverty, delayed access to care and weak health financing systems, despite the availability of trained staff in many facilities.
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