N495 Million Debts: UCH staff, patients plunged in darkness as IBEDC cuts off power supply

“The IBEDC should see UCH as a sacred place because we render services to save lives,” said the hospital’s CMAC.

News Agency of Nigeria • March 26, 2024

UCH BUILDING; LANTERN IN DARKNESS

The University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, has assured the patients and public that the management is doing its best to restore power supply.

The tertiary hospital owes N495 million in electricity bills.

The UCH chairman of the Medical Advisory Committee, Abiodun Adeoye, disclosed this in an interview on Tuesday in Ibadan.

The Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) disconnected the UCH power supply due to accumulated debts.

Mr Adeoye said that while the management had engaged the IBEDC in an open discussion, it had also written to the Federal Ministry of Health for interventions.

He added that the health ministry had also communicated with the ministry of power, so they are doing their best to find a holistic solution.

“On our own efforts here, we have put inverter in some critical areas such as clinics and wards, we have generator dedicated to power the theatre, ICU and labour rooms.

“Also, the management constituted an Energy Committee led by Dr Obaro Michael to look into the short term and long term solutions to energy issues in the hospital.

“We feel the pain this might be causing, but we are not folding our hands and watching,” he said.

The UCH CMAC remarked that the major problem was that the IBEDC was charging UCH like a commercial centre, which would not be sustainable.

He added, “The IBEDC should see UCH as a sacred place because we render services to save lives. They send us bills up to N71 million in a month, and we only receive an overhead of just N14 million.

“This year alone, they gave us bill of N147 million and we have paid N145 out of it. They still disconnected us being the third time this year. The current management of UCH inherited some debts since it came in 2019, payment plan which was sustained was made then till they began to charge us as a commercial centre.

“And they disconnected us even without notice. They said we owe N495 million and should pay N250 million, but we can’t have the money and allow our patients to suffer.”

However, he urged the patients to feel free to contact management whenever they had any complaints.

(NAN)

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