The Nigerian authorities has introduced plans to transition hospitals throughout the nation to photo voltaic vitality in response to the persistent electrical energy disaster affecting healthcare amenities, together with the College Faculty Hospital (UCH), Ibadan.
The Coordinating Minister of Well being and Social Welfare, Muhammad Pate, disclosed this on Friday whereas talking on Channels Tv’s Onerous Copy programme.
Mr Pate highlighted the federal authorities’s dedication to offering different vitality sources to hospitals, beginning with UCH, which has been grappling with energy provide points for over 100 days.
As a part of the federal government’s long-term answer, Mr Pate revealed that the 2025 finances consists of plans to solarise hospitals throughout the nation via the Rural Electrification Company.
“Within the 2025 finances, not solely UCH however virtually all our hospitals. We’re working via the Rural Electrification Company to solarise them in order that we use different energy sources to energy our amenities as a result of the price of diesel is encroaching on their internally generated income,” he stated.
UCH struggles
UCH has been grappling with persistent energy outages as a result of unpaid electrical energy debt owed to the Ibadan Electrical energy Distribution Firm (IBEDC).
The hospital had been with out electrical energy since 26 October 2024, resulting in disruptions in hospital operations and protests by college students demanding pressing intervention.
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PREMIUM TIMES reported in November 2024 that UCH administration confirmed that IBEDC deliberately disconnected the ability provide over an excellent debt of roughly N400 million, a part of a staggering N3.1 billion gathered invoice since 2019.
Nevertheless, after greater than 100 days with out electrical energy, IBEDC reconnected UCH to the nationwide grid on Wednesday following the intervention of the Minister of Energy, Adebayo Adelabu.
Mr Adelabu had a gathering with UCH administration and IBEDC officers on Monday, the place it was agreed that energy needs to be restored inside 24 to 48 hours.
Based on the Chairman of UCH’s Joint Well being Sector Unions (JOHESU), Oladayo Olabampe, electrical energy was reconnected to the hospital’s service areas at about 6 pm on Wednesday.
Nevertheless, Mr Olabampe famous that residential and industrial areas, together with banks and colleges throughout the hospital premises, stay with out energy.
“Though the residential areas use pay as you go meters, but they have been disconnected. Whereas we agree that the service areas are vital, the individuals rendering the service are equally vital,” he stated.
UCH efforts
Talking additional through the interview with Channels, Mr Pate defined that whereas UCH was not completely in darkness, the hospital had been pressured to depend on “off-grid assets” to energy the hospital and to maintain important providers working.
“This has been a narrative for a number of years of gathered debt to the Ibadan Disco. The hospital was disconnected, and we stepped in to assist,” he stated.
“The Chief Medical Director, during the last three months, has carried out an extremely good job of transitioning to off-grid energy, solarising lots of the wards, theatres, and others.”
Based on him, the hospital adopted a system the place diesel was used throughout particular hours to energy theatres whereas different sections relied on photo voltaic vitality.
The minister additionally identified that UCH’s energy provide was beforehand linked to the College of Ibadan, which included personal entities and residences.
This, he stated, created an extra monetary burden for the hospital, which had been paying for electrical energy past its consumption.
“The hospital was paying for a invoice that included others, together with residences which might be inside that perimeter. So, disentangling that’s needed. How can the hospital bear the burden, together with residences of those that should not essentially working within the hospital?” he requested.
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