By Worlanyo Evans Ameamu
Keta (VR). March 26, GNA-Dr Emmanuel Kona, the Keta Municipal Health Director, has expressed disappointment at the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) for disconnecting power to the hospital vaccine storage facility.
ECG has, however, reconnected power to the facility, following an initial disconnection exercise carried out on Wednesday due to indebtedness to the power distributor.
Dr Kona, who spoke to the Ghana News Agency, said the power disconnection could have damaged the drugs if power was not restored.
“The Ghana Health Service and all our facilities don’t charge for utility, when we are charging patients. We have a budgetary line with the Ministry of Finance to enable them pay all our bills regularly.”
He said over 2000 doses of BCG, Penta and Rota for diarrhoea, OPV vaccine for polio and Pneumonia, meningitis, malaria, yellow fever, measles, and tetanus were on the verge of waste and urged the ECG to reconsider its policy on disconnection of essential service providers going forward.
“We took new stocks of vaccines just last week that we must deliver to prevent some three childhood diseases and they are part of the vaccines that are on the verge of damage.”
Dr Kona disclosed that the health facility owed the power distributor a little over GH₵24,000 and appealed to the Finance Ministry to settle the debt to safeguard the lives of the innocent people.
But the Volta Regional Public Relations Officer of ECG, Benjamin Obeng Antwi, explained to the GNA that the misunderstanding that led to the disconnection had been resolved and power restored subsequently.
“As a company we don’t take delight in disconnecting customers as that is mostly the last resort in order to prevent the customer from accruing more debt and to enable the company gather more revenue to keep the electricity supply chain running.”
He stressed, “hospitals in the region jointly owe ECG GH₵8.9 million, it’s a sensitive area, and we cannot disconnect their power, some have been owing for two to three years. We engaged all hospitals’ administrators on a roadmap for payments. So as we speak, the Keta health directorate has been reconnected since morning Friday.”
The ECG PRO assured that the “vaccines are all intact and there’s no cause for alarm.”
ECG started its National disconnection exercise across the country to mobilise about GH₵5.7 billion owed by its customers in an exercise which was said to last for one month.
EGG before the disconnection exercise, directed all individuals, private and public companies to settle their debts to keep their lights on.
GNA