Health workers at the Specialist Hospital Jalingo in Taraba State have attributed patients’ complaints of poor services to the erratic power supply to the facilities in the past seven weeks.
For instance, the clinical workers at the hospital told LEADERSHIP Friday that it had been very difficult for them to carry out various services because of their inability to conduct tests to get accurate results for the treatment of affected patients.
They said the management had been running the hospital on generating sets for not more than 12 hours because of the high cost of diesel.
“Most of our tests need to be conducted with steady power supply, we also keep some under close watch under power supply for hours. For now, we can’t help to undertake such exercises because it always ends up as a waste of time and resources,” a clinical staff member who refused to give his name said.
On their part, the medical doctors listed their limitations, adding that they had worked at night because of the outages.
One of the doctors said, “Those working in the Accident Unit are the worst hit when there is no power supply. We know that the management is trying by powering the generating sets but at the same time, the cost of diesel is almost unaffordable compared to the revenue of the hospital.’’
Patients and their relatives lamented poor services and other difficulties while staying in the hospital’s wards to receive treatment.
It was reliably gathered that the blackout had since forced many patients out of the hospital as their relatives took them to the nearby Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Jalingo, which has since overstretched the capacity of the FMC.
“Mosquitos, extreme heat and darkness are the basic things that patients and their relatives who attend to them pass through every night. In the absence of electricity supply, you see rats, cockroaches and other insects moving around, it is always a nightmare spending two nights here,” Haruna Magaji, who was with his wife in the hospital stated.
Taraba State governor, Agbu Kefas upon assumption of office visited the hospital and ordered the immediate release of a transformer to the state-owned hospital to end the constant outage and ensure better services by the doctors and other workers.
The medical director of the hospital, Dr. Alex Maiangwa, confirmed the blackout in the hospital for the past seven weeks.
He also confirmed that the governor donated a transformer to the hospital which was awaiting installation.
“The governor generously donated a transformer to us, the installation is ongoing for now. All the components of the hospital that need immediate power supply, we have given them sets of generators, where constant electricity is inevitable, we have installed solar power, we are believing that soon public power will be restored,” Maiangwa stated.