Pressure is mounting on the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to release a load-shedding timetable, with the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) adding its voice to the calls.
The move comes after a video went viral on social media, in which a woman claimed that her three-day-old baby, who was in an incubator at the Tema General Hospital, died following erratic power outages. However, the hospital has denied that the power outage was linked to the baby’s death.
According to the Acting General Secretary of the GMA, Dr. Richard Selormey, the erratic power outages not only affect hospital administration but also impact treatment and all aspects of operations.
Dr. Selormey emphasized on Joy FM’s News Night on March 28, that the entire healthcare sector relies heavily on stable electricity. Therefore, when there are unexpected power cuts, it can lead to serious consequences.
“And so, across the country, most of the hospitals the government has rolled out, what is called the links and electronic management system. And so power outages disrupt all these processes because, for example, patients need to be verified, those with NHIS and other private insurance need to be verified on the system before they start the journey through the hospital.
“When these systems are off, it disrupts this because they cannot be verified or it takes much, much longer to get this done for them to begin to procure services within the facility. Beyond this are those patients who may be on the theatre table who may be undergoing dialysis, and various forms of treatment that require power to power machines and equipment that serve these patients.
“And so it is very important that we put the issue into context. It’s not about when only somebody dies, but people may even suffer irreparable damage just because the power has been broken. I’m sure you read the Tema General Hospital statement where they said it took two hours to solve the problem,” he said.
Dr. Selormey highlighted the challenges faced by health facilities, including the need to rely on torch lights during surgeries due to power outages, which poses a significant issue.
He emphasized that the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) is not concerned about the name given to the current power outages but rather about their timing and impact.
Furthermore, Dr. Selormey noted that the effects of the erratic power outages extend beyond patient care to the financial burden of running generators using fuel, especially with the current escalation in fuel prices.
He explained that these additional costs would strain hospital budgets, underscoring the importance of having a load-shedding timetable. Such a timetable would allow hospitals to reschedule procedures and plan their budgets accordingly.