The present power outage predicament has affected various sectors of the country, especially the operation of businesses. One other sector the erratic power outage has damagingly affected is the health sector as it has become risky to undertake some activities in this present situation.
The former General Secretary of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), Professor Titus Beyuo has indicated that the erratic power outage makes it impossible for hospitals to plan their activities.
He noted that because there is no load-shedding timetable to work with, clinicians are unable to schedule surgeries, especially in matters of emergency.
He further stated that the threat of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to hospitals to pay their debts to the company or risk being disconnected is illogical.
Prof. Beyuo revealed the Ministry of Health, in June 2023, had informed its agencies (hospitals, CHAG, GHS) that its debt to the ECG would be used to offset the ECG’s tax liabilities to the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), a process which the Ministry of finance would facilitate.
“…What happened to this? If all these things have been discussed and you get up one day and you say you are disconnecting an entire hospital like Korlebu or you have these power fluctuations and the hospital goes off, really, have we come or have we gone?”.
Professor Titus Beyuo
Moreover, he noted that during crises such as the present power outage, communication is important to instill courage in the public of the government’s commitment to solving the problem. He indicated that the government’s failure to communicate is disturbing.
Prof. Beyuo argued that the government cannot admit to the present power crisis because of its promise to Ghanaians to not return to Dumsor years ago.
He indicated that admitting to the problem is better than the government maintaining its pride while people suffer especially when the lives of patients are at stake.
“I was in theatre performing very difficult pelvic surgery, removing someone’s uterus; in the middle of that surgery, the light goes off. I expected the hospital’s backup plant to support me and it didn’t come on…it was faulty. When a patient is on life support on a ventilation machine… everybody says Prof hurry up… How do I hurry up when I can’t see?”
Professor Titus Beyuo
Government To Take Action
Accordingly, the National Chairman of the Ghana Coalition of NGOs in Health (GCNH), Mr. Bright Amissah-Nyarko, stated that the government must take rigorous steps to solve the power issues to restore the public’s confidence in health facilities.
He stated that critically ill patients are at risk of losing their lives due to power disruptions, while valuable hospital equipment are being damaged and so are medicines and vaccines that need to be kept fresh by keeping them in the refrigerator.
He suggested that hospitals must have alternative sources of power, like solar and Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS), to ensure that power outages do not affect the operations of hospitals and also unburden health workers in conducting their duties.
Mr. Amissah-Nyarko also noted that the government must take steps to ensure hospitals and other social institutions like schools do not pay electricity and other utility bills.
He indicated that the GCNH is committed to ensuring that the government takes such steps to ensure taxpayers are not overburdened with footing the utility bills of social amenities.
Also, Mr. Bright Amissah-Nyarko indicated that health facilities must not burden their clients with paying electricity bills by billing them for service delivery.
He further suggested that health facilities must have different meters for the different sections of the hospital, arguing that some sections of the hospital, like surgery theatres and emergency wards, should not be without electricity
Conclusively, Prof. Beyuo indicated that hospitals should ideally not be on the same meter as the sectors, noting that hospitals must always have access to power and should be omitted from the load-shedding sections.
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