This chapter examines the commoditization of healthcare and
variations in the delivery of services as perceived by users of
healthcare facilities in Lagos and Ibadan in southwestern
Nigeria. Commoditization, access, effectiveness and forms of
healthcare services were measured in five local government
councils in the two cities. Healthcare seekers appear to have
evolved a pragmatic accommodation between the usage of local
herbal medical practitioners and the modern formalized healthcare
system. The commoditization of healthcare services is
gaining ground and new forms of healthcare institutions, such
as private-in-public healthcare units, are being entrenched, The
relatively high costs associated with healthcare procurement in
these units is commensurate with the higher quality of care that
patients receive. Questions arise as to who the revenue should
go to when health workers deliver services using government
facilities during working hours when they are already being
paid. The implications of the private-in-public system on inequality
and exclusion remain a conjecture for healthcare access
and provisioning in contemporary Nigeria.