Music video director ThankGod Omori, popularly known as TG Omori, has reflected on his experience with kidney failure and the huge financial burden of treatment, saying his ordeal changed his understanding of the importance of money during serious illness.
Speaking during a recent interview, Omori said his treatment had required him to spend substantial amounts of money, particularly on regular dialysis and other medical expenses.
The director said the experience made him realise that while money may not necessarily buy happiness, it can provide access to treatment and, in his words, “buy some time” for people battling life-threatening health conditions.
“Money is actually important because I can’t lie to you, we’ve spent a lot of crazy money,” Omori said.
Explaining the cost of dialysis, he said the price could vary significantly depending on the facility. According to him, some hospitals charge about ₦50,000 to ₦70,000 per session, while the private facility where he received treatment charged between ₦150,000 and ₦200,000 per session.
Omori said patients with kidney failure may require dialysis several times a week, significantly increasing the financial burden.
“So sometimes you need three dialysis sessions in a week. So that’s about ₦500,000 a week,” he said.
He argued that such costs could be overwhelming for low-income earners, particularly when treatment is required for an extended period while a patient waits for a kidney transplant.
Omori explained that dialysis expenses could increase further when patients require additional tests, medication or treatment for complications.
He said a patient paying about ₦200,000 per session and undergoing three sessions every week could spend around ₦600,000 weekly, translating to more than ₦31 million over a year, before additional medical expenses are considered.
Omori acknowledged that the calculation represented his experience and the costs associated with the facility where he received treatment, rather than a uniform dialysis charge across Nigeria.
His comments highlight the wider financial pressure faced by patients with kidney disease, for whom treatment can require repeated hospital visits and long-term expenditure.
In 2025, Omori had previously drawn attention to the cost of dialysis in Nigeria, saying that a session could cost more than ₦100,000 and that some patients required three sessions a week. He also expressed concern about the difficulty ordinary Nigerians could face in sustaining such expenses.
The director’s kidney health battle became public in 2024 after reports that he had undergone a kidney transplant in Lagos following kidney failure. He later continued to update supporters about his recovery.
Reflecting on his experience, Omori said the financial demands of treatment meant patients often needed not only their own resources but also support from family, friends and other people capable of assisting with medical bills.
“You have to actually have money, not just money, you have to have people that have money to also support you,” he said.
For Omori, the experience has changed the way he views the relationship between money and health.
“So if you look at things like that, you understand that even though money can’t buy happiness, but money can still buy some time,” he said.
