Bibiani hospital in darkness

DAILY GUIDE has gathered that about nine-hour power cut that hit the Bibiani Government Hospital in the Western Region on Sunday nearly plunged the health facility into chaos.

The hospital experienced the problem from about 1:25pm to 9:30pm last Sunday, bringing activities at the health facility to a temporary halt.

Majority of the patients at the health facility were worried, particularly the children as they were heard crying and shouting in pain because their situations were said to have been worsened when the lights went out.

Nurses and other hospital staff who were also busily taking care of the patients at the hospital became frustrated when the lights went out unannounced.

Ghana for the past three years has been experiencing unprecedented erratic power supply, a situation which has led to the rationing of electricity power.

DAILY GUIDE learnt that for about nine hours, the hospital was in darkness and the stand-by generator could not be switched on because the facility did not have diesel to power the generator set.

Most of the nurses had to resort to the usage of the lights on their mobile phones before they could administer drugs to the patients, while other health workers who could not stand the darkness had to leave.

According to sources, patients with serious cases at the time of the problem were seen leaving the hospital to nearby private clinics that were operating with power at the time.

A reliable source at the hospital confirmed the story to DAILY GUIDE and pointed out that because of the myriad problems confronting the health facility; most of the hospital staff were seeking transfer to other areas.

The source explained that the generator set could not work because apart from the fact that the hospital owed the diesel supplier huge sums of money, the health facility could not afford to purchase the fuel.

“We have been purchasing the fuel on credit for some time now and the hospital owes a lot and cannot afford to pay, that was why for that long period the facility was in darkness,” the source noted.

It took the intervention of some senior staff of the hospital to approach the supplier of the diesel to negotiate with him before the health facility was able to get the fuel to power the generator set at about 10:00pm.

DAILY GUIDE has also gathered that the alleged refusal by government to pay the claims of National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) cards holders to the hospital had been a big problem to the hospital since about 95 percent of the hospital’s clients were on the NHIS.

The source stressed that the hospital would be in serious financial crisis if the NHIS claims were not paid by the end of October this year.