Atua Government Hospital, St. Martins Hospital, Yilo District hospital, Somanya Polyclinic, and some health centers in Yilo and Lower Manya Krobo Municipalities risk closure as the power cut to the two municipalities has entered its fifth day today.
A joint Statement by management of the Yilo Krobo and Lower Manya Krobo Municipal Health Directorates issued on August 1, 2022, warned of a public health emergency if power is not restored to the hospitals immediately.
The health directorates said the power outage is seriously affecting clinical services and afflicting unsustainable fuel costs for powering generators.
In the Yilo Krobo municipality, for instance, the directorate spends GH¢500 a day to power a generator.
COVID-19 vaccination has also been affected as the power outage has caused the relocation of municipal Cold Chain Equipment, which includes vaccine fridges and freezers for ice packs.
“Ongoing COVID-19 vaccination is also affected as a result vaccination team, district and sub-district supervisors are not able to charge their mobile phones and tablets, therefore not been able to enter data and monitoring/supervisory reports,” the statement said.
The Yilo Krobo District Hospital is barely three months old with very little capital and a host of challenges but forced to spend an unbudgeted amount of GH¢10,975 to power its diesel generator so far, according to the statement.
At the Somanya polyclinic, the directorates also said the only generator plant “which was donated by ECG to Somanya polyclinic has been taken back without any explanation by ECG, and therefore the facility has no alternative source of power.”
“The power outage has affected all aspects of clinical and public health care in the facility. The most affected areas are maternity units, laboratory services, in-patients, vaccine fridges, and administration.”
Atua and St. Martins Depores Hospitals spend Ghc3,000 and Ghc5,000 respectively every day on fuel to power generators.
The directorates say it cannot sustain the high cost of fueling generators at the various hospitals forewarning that “ we may not be able to sustain it to provide the quality health care services as expected.” therefore appealing to the government and management of ECG to restore electric power supply to all health facilities within the affected areas “in the shortest possible time to avert a possible public health emergency.
ECG curtailed the power supply to the two municipalities on July 27, 2022, at about 10:00pm.
According to the Electricity Company of Ghana, ECG, the outage was executed on safety grounds after some persons tempered with its transformers.
ECG says its network is interlinked therefore was not sure of the integrity of the network and the extent of interference hence safety became a paramount issue and that necessitated the shutdown of the feeders of the Bulk Supply Point plugging the municipalities into darkness.
ECG is hopeful power will be restored soon as stakeholders meet to discuss and seek resolutions, especially for the safety of the lives of ECG staff.
Source: Mybrytnewsroom.com/Obed Ansah
