[Cost of stroke in Lomé (Togo).]

The financial crisis that affected the healthcare systems of most developing countries in the 1980s, the ensuing need to control hospital costs, the partial disengagement of States, and the resort to policies based on cost recovery -- all these led to the restructuring of hospital systems in Africa, in accordance with the Bamako initiative, adopted by the WHO regional committee in September 1987. This restructuring required populations to pay much of the cost of their health care. In practice, however, the major obstacle to this policy of cost recovery remains poverty. Twenty years after the adoption of this initiative, we sought to evaluate the cost of hospitalisation for cerebral stroke in Togo, where there is no national health insurance programme, and to propose strategies to improve its management. This prospective study was conducted in the neurology department of the University Hospital of Lomé over a period of 12 months, from 1 January to 31 December 2005 and included 412 consecutive patients with a confirmed diagnosis according to WHO criteria and cerebral computed tomography (CT) results. This department has 30 beds in rooms categorized according to their cost to the patients: EUR 27.30 for a superior single room, EUR 18.20 for the first category standard room, EUR 13.7 euros for the second, and EUR 8.20 for the third. Patients or their family could choose their room category. Of the 412 patients included in our study, 248 (60.2%) had an ischaemic stroke (IS) and 164 (39.8%) a haemorrhagic stroke (HS). The average length of stay was 17.4 +/- 10.4 days (range: 3 to 41 days), 10.17 days (range: 3 to 24) for IS and 26.7 (range: 13 to 41) for HS. In all, 124 (30%) patients produced insurance certificates, and 288 (70%) paid directly; among the latter 152 (36.9%) patients paid their own expenses, while relatives paid for 65 (63.10%). Housewives accounted for 136 (33%) patients, 96 (23%) retired and 180 (20.4%) civil servants. No one chose the superior quality private room; 256 (62%) patients used category 3 rooms, 68 (27.2%) of them housewives and 44 (17.2%) retired. The total cost averaged EUR 679.6 +/- 297.90, almost 19 times higher than the minimum monthly salary of civil servants in Togo (EUR 36.30). The total for IS was EUR 428.80 +/- 188.9 and for HS, EUR 935.6 +/- 36.50. The average person in Togo spends EUR 3.99 per person per year on health, while a stroke patient hospitalized in Lome spends an average of 170 times more in only 17.4 days. Accordingly, most of the Togolese cannot access specialized neurology care for a stroke. Drug expenses accounted for the highest portion of the cost, in part because patients are obliged to buy retail pharmaceutical products that could have been provided to them at the hospital. Use of generic drugs could reduce this cost. Length of stay and tests could be reduced by setting time limits for procedures and setting up rehabilitation facilities.