Poor power supply to health facilities across the country is subjecting patients and their families to untold hardship, worsening health conditions, and resulting in loss of lives, Daily Trust investigations have shown.
The power crisis is halting healthcare deliveries, especially surgeries and antenatal services.
Patients told Daily Trust that they had their tests and treatments, including surgeries, delayed and postponed owing to power outage in hospitals.
This is even as health facilities, including tertiary hospitals, are battling huge electricity debts; with their managements, saying that despite paying those bills, they still have to source for funds to provide alternative power.
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The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, had, in February, hinted at a fresh electricity tariff hike, saying the government could not sustain the electricity subsidy.
‘Power outage caused my wife’s death during fibroid surgery’
Recently, one Umar B. Shehu, in a Facebook post, wrote that due to power outage, his wife, Ummi Yusuf Makusidi, died during a fibroid surgery at the Jummai Babangida Maternal and Neonatal General Hospital, Minna, Niger State.
He said, “Thirty-five minutes into my wife’s operation, NEPA took light, and there was no fuel in the theater generator at the Jummai Babangida Aliyu General Hospital,” Shehu wrote.
“Minutes later, they brought the fuel. After pouring it into the generator, it refused to start. They had to look for a mechanic. My wife was still inside the theatre.
“One of the nurses told me not to worry, that the operation had continued even without electricity. They had an alternative—torchlight—as usual.
Read more: https://dailytrust.com/electricity-crisis-how-poor-power-supply-is-affecting-healthcare/
