By George Odok
Calabar – Prof. Thomas Agan, the Chief Medical Director (CMD), University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH), has called on the Federal Government to take over payment of electricity bills of teaching hospitals in Nigeria.
Agan made the call when he spoke with newsmen over the disconnection of power supply to the UCTH by the management of Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC) in Calabar Monday
According to him, the over head allowance sent to the hospital by the Federal Government was too lean to meet the current monthly charges of the PHEDC.
“Over the years, they have been giving us estimated bill of N6.1million per month. But, after a metre was installed, the bill reduced to N2.1million monthly.
“The Business Manager of PHEDC in charge of Calabar, Mr George Chinwo, stormed the hospital and said that the arrears of our bill is N35 million.
“We moved into this new site of the hospital between 2013-2014. Since then, we have been making payments to them and we have paid about N5 million this month.
“The hospital is not a profit making venture; all we do is service delivery and if you disconnect the power supply, you are crippling the whole system.
“About six patients were on the operating table when PHEDC carried out the disconnection’’, Agan lamented.
According to him, the hospital needs to reconcile with PHEDC over the payment plan, and the hospital has been over- billed in previous years.
“Some of our equipment have been destroyed. Currently, we have babies in the incubator who needs light.
“Our laboratories and equipment in the theatre have also been damaged as well.
“We cannot carry out operations because we have no power. The Federal Government should please intervene so that we can continue to save lives’’, Agan appealed.
He also appealed to the management of PHEDC to reconnect the hospital, saying that the lives of many people were at risk over the non-supply of power to the hospital.
Reacting, Mr John Onyi of PHEDC, said that PHEDC did not disconnect its customer without writing as directed by the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
“In the case of UCTH, several visitations were made to their office from May to July 2016 with a view to making them see reasons why the outstanding bills should be paid.
“But, the response was not forthcoming, hence the first disconnection on 28th July 2016.
“ The disconnection on the said date prompted UCTH to have a meeting with PHEDC and thereafter, it was reconnected on 2nd August 2016.
“On the 16th of August 2016, PHEDC formally delivered a letter to the hospital, titled `Need to settle outstanding PHEDC energy bill, amounting to N35million’.
“The above outstanding debt was not a month’s bill as claimed but an accumulated bill arising from irregular paltry payments’’, Onyi said.
He said the disconnection was the last resort to recovering the huge amount of money owed them.
“PHEDC recognises UCTH as one of its customers established to make life better for Nigerians through good health care services.
“But members of the public should also realise that PHEDC is out to improve its service delivery when customers pay for what they have consumed,” Onyi said.
