Commentary
Walk into a government clinic in Lagos, Nigeria, on a Monday morning, and you’ll see the real price of “free” health care. Even early in the day, the benches are already full. Mothers clutch sick children, elderly men sit on the floor, and everyone waits—sometimes for hours—just to be seen. When a nurse finally calls a name, there’s often a quiet expectation for a “token,” a polite word for a bribe, to move the process along. And if you do make it to the doctor? The medicine is often out of stock. You leave with a prescription in hand and another bill to pay at a private pharmacy.
