UCH disconnection: Electricity finally restored after 16 days blackout

The University College Hospital in Ibadan, Oyo State, has finally had power restored after being cut off from the grid by the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company for owing a debt of N495 million. The hospital had been without power for 16 days.

Patients and employees who had been placed in unpleasant circumstances without electricity have now been relieved. Around 630 p.m. on Thursday, the electricity was turned back on.

Remember that on March 19, the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company disconnected the UCH for the third time in less than two months due to what it described as "accumulated bill indebtedness."

The Ibadan DisCo provided explanations for the disconnections, stating that they had to do so because of their inability to reach the hospital's administration over the N495 million debt, which had persisted for over six years.
But when our correspondent went to the hospital late on Thursday, he or she saw that the power was back on.

Numerous departments, including emergency medicine, family medicine, nursing, engineering, and pharmacology, were fully illuminated. Prior to the restoration of power, a source said that the hospital had paid off a portion of the N495 million debt.

According to the source, the hospital and the electrical distribution business also signed a contract outlining how the unpaid debt would be paid back.

"Of the N495 million, the hospital has paid N80 million, and they have a memorandum of understanding in place regarding how they would pay the remaining amount.

The hospital just needed to find a solution since things were starting to get embarrassing.

"During this period when the hospital was without electricity, employees had to buy rechargeable lamps to help them attend to patients," the source stated.

Our correspondent also noticed that the hospital was sparse during the visit because some of the wards were running on skeleton staff.

According to the source, only a small number of patients in serious condition were admitted, and the majority of patients were discharged as a result of the power loss.

Additionally, it was discovered that due to a lack of electricity in the hospital, the majority of procedures and examinations were performed outside of the building.

On Tuesday, April 2, the Joint Action Committee, which represents all hospital unions, sent out a notification informing employees that they would only be working from 8 a.m. till 4 p.m. due to power outage.
Oludayo Olabampe, the chairman of the JAC, bemoaned the fact that the healthcare personnel could not continue operating without electricity, having been without it since March 19.

When called on Thursday evening, he stated that health staff would completely resume on Friday after the electricity was restored.

"Now that the cause has been addressed, there is no reason for us to carry on with it. Everything will be exactly as it was before we fully commence work," he said.