Electricity supply to LEKMA Hospital has been restored following a power cut on Tuesday, July 16, 2024, due to unpaid bills.
The hospital relied on its standby generator throughout Wednesday, July 17, 2024, until intervention from Member of Parliament Benjamin Ayiku led to the restoration of power.
The Ministry of Health had previously assured there would be no electricity disconnections at 91 health facilities across the country, but LEKMA Hospital faced a power cut due to a debt of approximately 3 million cedis.
Despite attempts to repay the debt in installments, the Teshie office of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) deemed the payments insufficient, threatening hospital operations and patient care.
The reliance on the generator, which was costing over 20,000 cedis daily and rapidly depleting resources, led staff to limit power use and open windows for ventilation until electricity was restored on Thursday morning following MP Ayiku’s negotiations with the Teshie ECG office.
Mr. Ayiku emphasized the critical nature of the situation for patient lives and urged the hospital’s management to review its metering system to manage costs better.
He noted, “After my intervention with the manager, he even told me it’s beyond him, so he called his regional director and he said that is their policy and I told him this is about human lives and if someone dies, we can’t do anything about it. I even knelt down, It was very critical. We need to ensure that such situations don’t compromise human lives.”
He also recommended a dedicated fund to manage the debt and separating meters to control electricity costs stating “Even for the monthly bills, they struggle to pay. They should get a dedicated fund to manage the debt while concentrating on current bills. Separating meters will help manage the costs.”
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Source: Comfort Sweety Hayford/ATLFMNEWS
