Deliveries suspended at St. Anne's Hospital over power disconnection

Correspondence from Savannah Region

Deliveries at the St. Anne's Hospital in Damongo have been suspended due to power disconnection at the facility.

The head of communications at the hospital, Dr. Ahmed Gbedease in an interview said the decision was made at after two babies died while three others are in quagmire conditions due to disconnection of electricity to the hospital by the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo).

He indicated that the babies lost their lives because of the facility's inability to get blood from the blood bank over lack of power supply.

According to him, the babies didn't get blood transfusion because the hospital was unable to test for compatible blood suitable for them and blamed the unfortunate situation on the power situation.

“From the very first time they disconnected us, we lost a baby, and the second time we lost another. As we speak, there is another one in critical condition and the reason is that we couldn’t transfuse [blood to] them. It looks like almost every day we are going to have a problem to deal with", he said.

The Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo) disconnected the power supply to the hospital for the second time in a month on Wednesday, May 17, 2023.

It was as a result of the facility's inability to settle an over four million Ghana Cedis electricity bill owed the company.

NEDCo first cut the power supply to the hospital on May 4 and later reconnected after the intervention of the Savannah Regional Minister, Saeed Muhazu Jibril.

However, the electricity company threatened to disconnect the facility again on May 9 if the debt is not settled and true to its threat, disconnected the hospital on Wednesday, May 17, 2023.