By Benjamin A. Commey
Amasaman (GAR), Sept 24, GNA— The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) says it is committed to supplying quality, reliable and safe power supply to Ghanaians across its operating areas.
To this end, it has urged Ghanaians to be responsible citizens by paying for the electricity they use and report all forms of power theft to the appropriate authorities.
Mr Ebenezer Ghunney, the General Manager of ECG for Accra West Region, gave the assurance when the company commissioned a 200KVA transformer for the Ga West Municipal Hospital at Amasaman in the Greater Accra Region on Friday.
The transformer is to provide constant and reliable power supply to the hospital and improve healthcare services.
It was installed at a cost of GHC200,000.00.
Mr Ghunney said the company chose the Ga West Municipal Hospital because of years of complaints regarding the unreliability of power supply to the facility.
“Before today, this hospital used to be served from a public transformer and they often reported issues of power fluctuations, low voltage and frequent interruption of power supply to some critical units of the hospital, including the neo natal intensive care (NICU), theatre, emergency unit, the laboratory and the records (OPD),” he said.
He added: “The installation of this dedicated 200kVA transformer to the Ga West Municipal hospital is, therefore, a means of improving power supply and reliability to this facility, and in our own small way, ensure that the provision of healthcare to the people and patrons of this hospital is not jeopardized.”
He said the gesture formed part of the company’s corporate social responsibility as well as 2022 ICT Expo activities.
Established in 1984 as a health center, the facility was designated as a Municipal Hospital in 2008.
Currently serving a population of more than 200,000 in the Ga West Municipality and adjoining municipalities, the hospital serves on average, 72,000 outpatients and 8,500 inpatients annually.
The Emergency Unit of the hospital sees more than 6,000 patients annually, that is, more than 16 patients daily and remains the only and highest referral facility in the Ga West Municipality.
However, without a dedicated transformer, the facility relied on the only transformer that served the entire community.
Dr Eric Sarpong-Ntiamoah, the Medical Superintendent, Ga West Municipal Hospital, said the installed transformer would massively improve power supply to the facility for better healthcare delivery.
He explained that over the years, the facility had had to battle with frequent power trips as a result of low voltage from the only transformer that served the community.
“An uncountable number of medical equipment and computers got damaged due to the unstable power supply. This has made the hospital very expensive to run since we have to constantly be buying equipment,” he bemoaned.
Dr Sarpong-Ntiamoah disclosed that since January this year, the hospital had spent over GH¢40,000 on fuel to power its 100KVA generator to ensure stable power supply.
“This amount could have been channeled into purchasing equipment or medicines thus aiding in the provision of quality care,” he said.
While commending the ECG for the gesture, the Medical Superintendent appealed to other benevolent organisations to come to the aid of the hospital to help address the myriad of challenges confronting it.
These challenges include inadequate space for maternal cases admission (pre and post-delivery and labor ward), inadequate delivery beds for admission and deliveries, limited rooms for health services (consultation room, office, nutrition and public health education room) and limited space for antenatal clinics.
He also called for the provision of state of the art equipment for the Emergency Unit, Wards, Theatre and Theatre Recovery to enable it to deal with emergency cases.
Dr Margaretta Gloria Chandi, the Municipal Director of Health Services for Ga West, assured management of the ECG that the hospital would do all it could to maintain the property.
GNA