Abstract: | This study of private medical practice in Nigeria illustrates that medicine has been commoditized and is now a lucrative business. Because of the crisis of the public medical system, private medicine now constitutes an 'efficient' alternative to the public system. This paper examines the whole gamut of medical business in Nigeria. First, the fusion of medical and material interests and the dialectics between these are discussed. This is followed by an explanation of the research methodology (data were collected in Plateau State in 1986-1988), and a discussion of the characteristics which distinguish private medical enterprises in Nigeria from the public system in terms of types of services provided, the relation with business and the government, the organization of services, and charges. In conclusion, an explanation is given for the rapid growth of private practices by placing health care in the wider context of the Nigerian political economy. Notes, ref., sum. |