Poor power supply draining our IGR — UCH CMD

Prof. Jesse Otegbayo, Chief Medical Director, University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, has decried the huge amount of funds expended on powering generators due to poor electricity supply.

Otegbayo stated this while addressing newsmen on Monday in Ibadan on the occasion of his first year in office.

Our correspondent reports that Otegbayo assumed office as the eighth CMD of the institution on March 1, 2019.

The CMD said that poor power supply was the greatest challenge facing the hospital and had seriously affected quality patient care.
According to him, out of the over N200 million generated monthly by the tertiary hospital, a huge percentage of that is spent on diesel, repair and purchase of generators.

“We have serious challenges in the area of power and water supply. These two are vital to the operation of the hospital.
“This is a hospital environment and you cannot overemphasise on the need for regular power.

”Imagine if a patient is being operated on and power is turned off, a lot of things can go wrong.

“We have had to run the hospital mainly on power generating sets. We have almost 75 generators in different locations within the premises.

“The power supply from the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) has been grossly inadequate.

”It is pathetic that a huge chunk of our IGR is expended on diesel to power the generators,” he said.

Otegbayo, while highlighting some of the achievements of the hospital since the inception of his administration, said that it had commenced In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) procedure after many years of hiatus.

“This particular project had remained moribund since the building was commissioned in 2011 without the needed facilities.

“We have made all the necessary equipment and personnel available and to the glory of God, the IVF procedure commenced with the first batch of five patients in February 2020.

“It was successful and in the coming months and years, the IVF clinic will continue and never to stop anymore.

“Also on Feb. 26, we had two kidney transplants. This is not novel to UCH, but we have reached a point that all measures should be out in place to sustain such service. It is of note that the last kidney transplant was in year 2016.

“Our blood bank has been expanded and equipped to accommodate the numerous requests for blood during surgeries and other medical usage.

“Gradually, we are working hard to meet the clinical challenges facing the hospital,” he said.

The CMD appealed to well-meaning Nigerians to support the various developmental projects of the hospital in order to provide quality patient care to all Nigerians irrespective of status.

“A lot of our achievements have been made possible with prudent management of our IGR and through the help of some well-meaning Nigerians and groups who have partnered with us.

“There is no gainsaying the government allocation alone cannot provide all the needed funds for all the developmental projects in the hospital.

“Our major areas of need in the hospital include power and water supply, renovation of clinic and wards, building of the out-patient extension and replacement of old water pipes in the hospital.

“To achieve our laudable targets, we solicit more assistance from individuals, organisation and groups,” he said.

Our correspondent reports that the first year anniversary of the CMD in office featured the inauguration of some major projects undertaken by his administration which included the expanded blood bank and brachytherapy unit.

Others inaugurated were the obstetrics and gynecology theatre, renovation of accident and emergency unit, cash and carry pharmacy and an oxygen gas plant.