The St. Anne’s Hospital in Damongo, in the Savannah region, has had its power restored thanks to an intervention by the area’s Member of Parliament, Samuel Abdulai Jinapor.
The Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo) off the hospital’s power due to a debt of 4 million Ghana cedis.
Following a Citi News report on the deaths of two babies and three others in serious condition as a result of the power outage, Mr. Jinapor, who is also the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, made payments to NEDCo to ensure the hospital is fully operational.
According to Dr. Gbeadese Ahmed, the hospital’s head of communications and clinical coordinator, the power outage prohibited the hospital from accessing blood from the Blood Bank and conducting compatibility tests for transfusions, resulting in the loss of two newborns.
However, Maxwell Kotoka, NEDCo’s corporate communications manager, defended the firm’s decision to stop electricity to the hospital, citing the hospital’s failure to communicate with the power company over their GH4.8 million outstanding debt.
Kotoka said that despite previous warning of the disconnection, the hospital might have made arrangements with NEDCo.
“Needing the power which is so critical to their operation, where they have challenges, they should have engaged us, but they didn’t do that. And I heard them say that they owe GH¢4 million, they actually owe us GH¢4.8 million, and before we embarked on the disconnection, we made a public announcement that we were coming and said if you have any difficulty, you should take advantage of the notice before we get there,” Mr. Kotoka told Umaru Sanda Amadu.
