More than 30 pregnant women seeking antenatal care were left frustrated at the Mother and Child Hospital on Ogombo Road, Lekki, Lagos, after some were reportedly turned away because the facility had reached its daily registration limit.
The incident, reported on Tuesday, October 13, has raised concerns about the challenges pregnant women face in accessing healthcare at public hospitals.
Some of the women said they had visited the facility several times without success. One woman reportedly said it was her third visit, while another explained that she arrived at about 6:40 a.m. but was still unable to register.
The situation attracted the attention of the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Professor Akin Abayomi, who contacted the hospital’s Managing Director, Dr Femi Aletan, to address the complaints.
Following the intervention, the hospital management apologised to the affected women and directed nurses to register them.
The management also disputed claims that the hospital had an official policy limiting antenatal registration to 45 patients daily.
However, the incident has drawn attention to concerns about staffing levels at the facility.
A doctor attributed the situation partly to a shortage of healthcare workers, while the hospital’s managing director identified the migration of medical professionals abroad as one of the challenges affecting service delivery.
For the affected women, repeated visits meant additional transport costs, lost time and uncertainty about when they would be able to access antenatal care.
The incident has renewed questions about how public hospitals manage patient numbers, communicate registration procedures and ensure that staffing limitations do not prevent expectant mothers from accessing essential healthcare services.
Although the affected women were eventually directed to register, the incident highlights the need for hospital authorities to clarify registration procedures and implement measures to prevent similar complaints in the future.
