By Philip Tengzu
Wa, (UW/R), April 27, GNA – The Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo) has cracked the whip on the Upper West Regional Hospital by disconnecting power supply to the facility over a GH₵20 million indebtedness to the company.
This was after an extensive engagement between the officials from NEDCo and the management of the hospital which ended inconclusively.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency after the disconnection, Mr Francis Yormesor, the Wa Operational Area Manager of NEDCo, said they decided to disconnect the facility as the last option in their bit to get it settle the debt.
He noted that they would continue to engage the hospital authorities for possible part payment of at least 30 per cent of GH₵20 million debt for the facility to be reconnected.
He said the hospital’s annual consumption was about GH₵1.2 million and that for over a year now the facility had not made any payment for the electricity supplied and it was not in the interest of the company to take off power from the facility, but that the huge indebtedness of the facility compelled them to do so.
“We started engaging the hospital management for some days now. We came to the facility and engaged them; they also came to our office, and we had an engagement.
“We agreed that today, 26th April 2023, they were going to make some payment…what they are telling us is that they don’t have anything in their coffers to even pay a pesewa”, Mr Yormesor explained.
He stated that they could not run the electricity company without money hence their decision to go after their clients to collect monies owed to the company.
He explained that they had also served demand notices to the National Intelligence Bureau, the Ghana Police Command, Ghana National Fire Service, and the Ghana Prison Service.
“After 14 days if the demand notices are not forthcoming then we will also be forced to go this tangent”, Mr Yormesor said, and observed that their target for the exercise was GH₵89 million but that they had so far collected only GH₵ 1.9 million.
Meanwhile, Dr. Robert Amesiya, the Medical Director of the hospital, observed that the action by the NEDCo would cause more harm than good to the people of the region and beyond who visited the facility for medical care.
He said it would be a big blow to the people as there were few hospital options for them in the region aside the regional hospital, which was the major referral facility in the region.
“It has grounded us. We wished this had not happened. Every operation has been brought to a halt.
“Neonates are in the NICU lying in the incubators with no light, people are in the ICU with no light and people might need emergency surgeries.
In fact, this morning an accident involving two buses occurred on the Wa-Kumasi road and the victims were brought here, we do not know what we are going to do with those patients,” Dr. Amesiya explained.
While recognizing the concerns of NEDCo that warranted the disconnection, the Medical Director appealed to NEDCo to “temper justice with mercy” by reconnecting the facility to the national grid.
GNA