The University College Hospital (UCH) in Ibadan’s Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU) has criticized the subpar work of its employees as a result of the power outage.
Mr. Oladayo Olabampe, the chairman of the union, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan on Saturday that the outage was preventing the workers from performing to their full potential.
He remembers that on November 25, 2024, the hospital was disconnected by the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) because of accrued debt.
Olabampe bemoaned the disconnection, saying it made Christmas and New Year’s celebrations gloomy for the staff and patients.
“Although the management had tried to install solar in some places, it doesn’t cover everywhere and can’t be compared to electricity light.
“It’s obvious the debt of millions is beyond UCH; it can’t afford the bills.
“It has reached a point where IBEDC brings up to N99 million as bill per month; UCH doesn’t make such kind of money they think we are making.
“The government should please consider the health of the citizens and come to the aid of UCH; the government shouldn’t allow a hospital such as the UCH to stay without light for more than one month.
“It is running to the second month now, yet nothing is being done,” he said.
Olabampe begged the FG to help pay off the accrued debt in order to enhance the hospital’s working conditions and the medical care provided to its patients.
“The government can help pay 50 per cent of bills for government-owned hospitals as promised; this will serve as a support.
“The government can also increase the money allocated to government hospitals for power, water, etc.
“They can assist in generating more solar and turbine power to be extended to many other units at the hospital.
“The members of staff are really striving, doing the little we can because of our commitment to take care of the sick.
“This is the toughest working time for us,” Olabampe said.
The JOHESU boss also urged well-meaning Nigerians and philanthropists to come to the aid of the hospital.
“We commend philanthropists such as Pastor E. A. Adeboye of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), who gave an amount of money for solar installations.
“This is the toughest working time for us,” Olabampe said.
The head of JOHESU also called on well-meaning Nigerians and donors to support the hospital.
“We commend philanthropists such as Pastor E. A. Adeboye of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), who gave an amount of money for solar installations.
“We call on others to please join,” he said.
In the meantime, families of patients have persisted in complaining that the power outage is preventing their ailing loved ones from receiving adequate care.
They contend that patients’ access to timely and appropriate treatment is being hampered by the delay in receiving the results of medical investigations.
The findings of tests to evaluate kidney function now take an average of 72 to 80 hours rather than six hours, according to a patient’s family who goes by the name Tunji.
“The results are no longer printed but handwritten, making it prone to more clerical errors.
“This manual method also evades the check and balance in the laboratory information system for verification of results before release.
“The newborn unit has no power to cater for incubators and radiant warmers, so babies cannot be admitted as soon as possible, even if delivered in UCH.
“Despite the availability of manpower, most of it is wasted or underutilised,” he said.
An unnamed UCH employee, meanwhile, praised the hospital administration for putting solar inverters in the ICUs, emergency room, and a few wards.
But according to the source, the inverters were only used for lighting and only covered roughly 50 beds.
“This is grossly inadequate considering the hospital has over 1,000 beds.
“The number of surgeries has grossly reduced, and many people cannot access emergency surgeries,” the source said.