The St. Anne’s Hospital in Damongo in the Savannah region has had its power restored after an intervention from Samuel Abdulai Jinapor, the Member of Parliament for the area.
The hospital had its power cut by the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo) due to a debt of 4 million Ghana cedis.
Following a report by Citi News on the death of two babies and three others who were in critical condition due to the power cut, Mr. Jinapor, who is also the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, made payments to NEDCo to ensure the hospital is reconnected and fully operational.
Dr. Gbeadese Ahmed, the head of communications and clinical coordinator of the hospital, explained that the power outage prevented the hospital from accessing blood from the Blood Bank and conducting compatibility tests for transfusions, resulting in the loss of two babies.
But Maxwell Kotoka, the corporate communications manager for NEDCo, defended the company’s decision to cut power to the hospital, citing the hospital’s failure to engage with the power company over their outstanding debt of GH¢4.8 million.
Kotoka suggested that the hospital could have made arrangements with NEDCo but failed to do so, despite prior notice of the disconnection.
“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.
