Aim: To assess the sources of funding for management of Diabetes Mellitus in patients attending the Enugu State University Teaching Hospital, South East Nigeria.

Method: A total of 422 patients with type-2 diabetes mellitus attending the diabetic clinic at the Enugu State University Teaching Hospital were studied within a six months period in the year 2021. A questionnaire was used to collect their demographic data and data on their sources of fund for managing their type-2 diabetes mellitus.

Results: The study population was well matched for gender ie 50.9% were males while 49.1% were females. The greatest percentage of patients was above 60years of age and majority of them (63.5%) were married. About 14.9% of them have an annual income of <20,000naira. The greatest percentage (38.2%) had an average monthly income of 21-50,000naira. (32.7%) has an annual income of >N50,000 while 14.2% has no means of income at all. (53.5%) were either government or private sector employees while the rest (46.5%) were either unemployed or into businesses in the private sector. Out of the (53.5%) who are into gainful employment, 28.4% receive benefits eg health insurance from employers while the rest 25.1% do not receive any form of health insurance. This means that 71.6% of the patients finance their treatment through out of pocket expenses (OPE). About 20.4% of those who receive financial assistance for their treatment claim the annual value is <20,000 naira.

Conclusion: Diabetes Mellitus (type-2) is a very chronic illness requiring regular adherence to lifetime treatment which in most cases is very expensive and therefore a situation where about 71.6% of patients fund their treatment through OPE is very unacceptable. To worsen the situation the greatest percentage of the patients were above 60years which means they have passed their retirement age and it is expected that they would be living at the mercy of their children or previously-dependent relatives. This therefore means that the morbidity and mortality rate due to this disease will be very high due to non-affordability of the treatment by the patients.