Two babies have died at St. Anne’s Hospital in Damango following a power disconnection at the facility by the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo).
NEDCo disconnected the power supply to the facility for the second time in a month due to its failure to settle an outstanding electricity bill of over four million Ghana cedis.
According to the management, the babies died due to the inability of the hospital to test for compatible blood to transfuse to the babies.
Dr Gbeadese Ahmed, the head of communications and clinical coordinator of the hospital, while speaking in a radio interview added that three other babies are also in critical condition.
“From the very first time they disconnected us, we lost a baby, and the second time we lost another. As we speak, there is another one in critical condition and the reason is that we couldn’t transfuse [blood to] them. It looks like almost every day we are going to have a problem to deal with,” he said.
He said the hospital has also suspended deliveries due to the same challenge.
Authorities of the hospital closed down the OPD and administration blocks of the facility on May 17 after the disconnection.
The hospital’s accountant, Mr Rashid Damba said “We have done everything humanly possible to prevent NEDCo from disconnecting the power supply to the hospital, but our efforts have not yielded the desired outcome.
“Due to the lack of electricity, the medical director of the hospital has decided to refer patients to a nearby hospital since the facility cannot operate without power. As a result, both the OPD and administration have been closed,” he added.
Meanwhile, angry patients stranded at the hospital have expressed their disappointment about the situation and threatened to take to the streets in protest until electricity is restored to the hospital.
Mr. Damba explained that although the hospital has its own power plant, the cost of fueling it would be prohibitively expensive for the facility to bear.