Table III.

Cost of hospitalization by categories of payment during the study period

Categories of payment	Annual cost of Care (in USD)	% of the Total Annual cost	Average cost of care per hospitalization(in USD)
Investigations	3,847.25	15.8	21.02
Drugs	9,337.49	38.5	51.02
Blood transfusion	2,724.40	11.2	14.89
Transportation	2,372.05	9.8	12.96
Surgeries	1,334.28	5.5	7.29
Others*	4,662.91	19.2	25.48
Total Annual cost	24,278.37	100.0	132.67

NB:

^*Others refer to costs of hospital records, nursing charges, accommodation and feeding

On the other hand, the rate of hospitalization and the length of hospital stay were positively associated with total hospitalization costs. The average total cost for patients with hospital stays of <7 days was $158.51 less than for patients with hospital stays of ≥7 days (P = 0.026). Similarly, the average total cost for children with more than one admission was $331.21 higher than for those with only one admission (P = <0.001).