The Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU) Chairman at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Mr Oladayo Olabampe has appealed to the Federal Government to come to the institution’s aid.
Olabampe, while reacting to a power outage at UCH, while speaking on Monday in Ibadan, said that the hospital needed assistance to survive.
There has not been light at UCH since Oct. 26 when the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) disconnected the hospital due to accumulated debts.
Olabampe, who decried the bill from IBEDC as alarming and outrageous for a hospital such as UCH, said the government had to assist the health facility by stepping in.
“The bill is killing. IBEDC put UCH on Band A but we can’t afford the bill of Band A.
“This is why the hospital management told the company to remove UCH from Band A and put it in Band B. But it (IBEDC) did not.
“So, we now want government to prevail on IBEDC to return UCH to Band B where it can afford to pay.
“Philanthropists and well-meaning Nigerians should also come to UCH’s aid and support it,” he said.
The JOHESU Chairman noted that Federal Government-owned hospitals such as UCH were put in place for “welfare”.
“Sometimes, some patients don’t even pay because they cannot afford to pay their bills even after we have treating them.
“So, IBEDC should just cooperate with the UCH management to settle some part of the bill for now and reconnect us, while the payment negotiation continues,” he said.
Olabampe said IBEDC has been charging UCH between 70 million Naira and 80 million Naira monthly.
“In addition to this, we still buy diesel because they don’t give us light for 24 hours,” he said.
The JOHESU official however assured that the UCH management was doing its best to ensure that light was restored very soon.
“The management is trying to find a way out of this. There is nothing much one can do without light, other than to manage,” he said.
Olabampe disclosed that the UCH management carried JOHESU along as the whole situation unfolded.
“The management made us to understand the situation and their indebtedness, and we hope the power outage will soon be over.
“But IBEDC must remove us from Band A. If not, we will continue to run in debts,” he said.
Meanwhile, relatives of several patients at the hospital have been lamenting the inability to get quality medical attention from the hospital due to the power outage.
Speaking on behalf of some of the patients’ relatives, one Mr Ismail Mohammed decried the fact that his father was not attended to because the test result was not out.
“We did a test, for almost two weeks now, but the result is not yet out. They have been telling us the same story of ‘no light’ ‘no light’ since then.
“The doctors cannot attend to him till the result is out, and that is the most painful thing. We are supposed to have left the hospital before now if the result was out,” he said.
Also, one Mr Water Chimee lamented that patients were suffering because the power outage affected everything.
“My baby sister who has been on oxygen has not been attended to because the result of the test we did is not out yet.
“Doctors can’t even commence treatment for her because they need to see the result to know what’s wrong.
“Even, there is no water in the hospital. Patients have had to be bringing in rechargeable torchlights for the doctors to use in seeing. We are tired of the whole situation.
“If patients need blood now, there is no light to scan it and if they want to perform surgery there should be blood on ground normally. The situation is really taking its toll on patients.
“Please, the government and relevant stakeholders should come to the aid of the hospital before the situation leads to its total collapse,” he said.
NAN
