The University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Oyo state, has requested the intervention of the Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister of Economy, Mr. Wale Edun to offset its outstanding electricity bill to the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company, (IBEDC).
The electricity company had disconnected UCH three times this year owing to the backlog of electricity bills it owes the company which accumulated to N494m.
This has put the facility in incessant darkness and exposing patients, their relatives and medical staff alike to hardship and health hazards.
In the letter to the minister, the Chief Medical Director, Professor Jesse Otegbayo, lamented that the hospital has not been able to fulfill its duties of providing quality healthcare delivery to its patients due to the incessant disconnection of electricity from the hospital.
“The hospital has been placed on commercial rating by the IBEDC which has resulted in the high monthly billing of the hospital and has eventually led to the accumulated indebtedness of N495m.
“It is important to mention that the hospital has been finding it difficult to pay up the outstanding bill owing to the fact that the facility offers humanitarian services to save lives of patients who are mostly indegents referred from different parts of the country, as well as accident victims brought by the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) who cannot be rejected in line with the federal government directives.
“In addition, the monthly subventions by the Federal Government are rather too low to service various expenditures including the IBEDC bill,” the letter read in part.
While appreciating the minister for assistance received in the past, the CMD pleaded for an immediate intervention as the hospital has come under threat of indefinite power disconnection by the IBEDC.
Meanwhile, the UCH management has notified all heads of departments of the power outage due to the disconnection of power supply by the IBEDC.
