By Murtala Issah
The Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo) has given the Tamale Teaching Hospital a two-week ultimatum to clear its debts or face disconnection.
The hospital is the only health facility offering tertiary health care in Northern Ghana, serving clients across the Northern, Upper East, North East, Upper West and Savannah Regions. Clients also cross over from Togo, Burkina Faso, and Ivory Coast to access healthcare, making it a critical healthcare facility in the area.
Despite its importance, the hospital owes NEDCo, about 46 million cedis in electricity bills.
A debt recovery team from NEDCo, led by the Managing Director, Osmani Aludiba Ayuba, called on the Management of the TTH on Thursday to discuss payment terms.
The MD insisted that, the hospital must pay at least 70 percent of the debt in order to continue to enjoy electricity supply.
“We as an institution for now, we do not pay for electricity from our coffers, we don’t do that. It is being paid from government and as far as I am aware, I think last month or so, we were asked to forward our bill and we did same. So the thinking is that. This figure that you have even mentioned, it used to be more than that, so practically, the government has defrayed a portion leaving this figure right now. It is our expectation that, now that you are carrying out this exercise government will see the need to defray the debt for us for us to continue to enjoy your good services.
For now I cannot say for a fact that, government will reimburse the money today or tomorrow. But obviously and once you have media men around, I think that, the message will be sent across, once they air this encounter, whatever it is, we will formally write again to the Ministry, then the Ministry takes it up from there,” he stressed. However, the Management of the hospital pleaded with the MD to consider the potential impact of disconnecting the facility.
The Director of Administration at the TTH, Emmanuel Sena Kwesi Donkor, explained that management has already written to the Ministry of Health to alert them to the development.
He explained that, the hospital’s utility bills are paid by government, adding that a letter has been written to the Ministry of Health informing the Ministry of the development.
NEDCo on started an exercise on Tuesday to recover over 1.2 billion cedis debt owed by various institutions across its operational area.
Some of the Institutions include, the Alhaji Aliu Mahama Sports Stadium, the Tamale Teaching Hospital, the Bagabaga College of Education, the Tamale College of Education, the University for Development Studies and the Tamale Technical University.
On the first day of the exercise, NEDCo disconnected the Tamale and Bagabaga Colleges of Education as well as the Alhaji Aliu Mahama Sports Stadium.
The debt recovery exercise is expected to end on May 18, 2023.
