Sodiq Ojuroungbe
Within the 16 days electricity supply to the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Oyo State, was disconnected from the grid by the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company over a debt of N495m, relatives of patients under critical care said they went through traumatic experiences.
According to them, they had no choice but to nurse their loved ones in pitch darkness, enveloped by fear and uncertainty.
When our correspondent spoke with some of the nurses, they shared unpleasant accounts of their daily struggles to provide care for patients on admission and how the prolonged blackout took a heavy toll on virtually every health worker in the premier facility.
PUNCH Healthwise reported that power supply was recently restored to UCH after it was disconnected by IEDC on March 19, over what it termed “accumulated bill indebtedness.”
While giving reasons for the disconnection, which was the third in less than two months, the power distribution company explained that it disconnected the hospital after failed attempts to engage with its management regarding the N495 million debt, which had persisted for over six years.
However, when our correspondent visited the hospital on Thursday night, he observed that electricity had been restored.
Several departments like Family Medicine, Emergency, Nursing, Engineering, and Pharmacology, among others, were fully lit.
It was also observed that the hospital was scanty as some of the wards had started operating skeletally due to lack of electricity.
Some nurses who spoke with our correspondent during the visit were elated about the development but wasted no time narrating their ordeal within the 16 days power was cut off.
According to them, they were forced to use rechargeable lamps to navigate dark corridors at night to attend to patients.
They noted that the struggle to provide quality care under these circumstances was immense.
“It was a nightmare,” recounted Nurse Abiodun, who worked in the maternity ward throughout the power outage.
“We had to use rechargeable lamps to light and find our way around and you know those lights can only last for a few hours. We were constantly worried that we could make grievous mistakes that could harm our patients.
“Imagine trying to draw blood from a vein or administering medication in the dark. It was quite difficult and dangerous.”
Another nurse, simply identified as Oluwaseun, revealed that the rechargeable lamps were not provided by the hospital.
“We brought the lamp ourselves and charged them from home. Every night was like a battle. The heat was unbearable, and there was no relief from the humidity. We sweated profusely, and it was difficult to be comfortable in such an environment.
“We had to double-check everything we did to avoid costly mistakes and this took up precious time and added to our already heavy workload.”
UCH laboratory stopped functioning
One of the nurses told PUNCH Healthwise that the laboratory inside the hospital stopped functioning during the blackout.
The nurse, who spoke under condition of anonymity, added that laboratories outside became a beehive of activities as samples for tests were ferried there.
She revealed that many patients were discharged because of the critical situation the hospital was in at the time.
“Most of the patients were discharged because there was no electricity. We couldn’t carry out investigations so samples were sent outside the hospital. The staff of the laboratories was coming to collect blood samples to carry out tests as there was no electricity to operate the laboratory inside the hospital,” the nurse added.
She, however, said departments like the Intensive Care Unit, Theatre, Labour Ward, Complex A and B, Special Baby Care Unit, and the Dialysis Centre, enjoyed two to three hours of electricity daily from a generating set in the hospital.
Patients’ relatives struggle
For family members of patients admitted to the hospital during the blackout, the experience, they said, was arduous.
They noted that with each visit to their loved one lying in dark wards, they were forced to navigate a world of fear, uncertainty, and emotional turmoil.
They lamented that without electricity, communication was hampered, while access to basic necessities like water became a challenge.
“It was as if we were descending into an abyss every time we went to see my father admitted to the ICU during the blackout,” lamented Mrs Adesewa Babatunde.
“We couldn’t see his face or expression. We couldn’t even hold his hand. We had to use phone torch light to navigate to where he was lying semi-conscious.”
Another relative identified as Ayoola, also likened his experience to a nightmare, adding, “I sat by my mother’s bedside every day, holding her hand in the darkness, not knowing if she was in pain or if she was even conscious.”
‘Hospital to resume fully on Friday’
PUNCH Healthwise had earlier reported that the Joint Action Committee, an umbrella body of all unions in the hospital, had on Tuesday, April 2, issued a notice that staff would only work between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. due to the power outage.
The JAC Chairman, Oludayo Olabampe, lamented that the health workers had been working without electricity since March 19 and could not continue that way.
When contacted on Thursday night, he said health workers would resume fully from Friday following the restoration of electricity.
“We don’t have any reason to continue with it since the reason for it has been addressed. We are going to resume work fully and everything will be just like it was before,” he stated
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