Workers in the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Oyo State have embarked on what they called down-scaling, working from 8.00am to 4.00pm every day until power was restored.
The workers also threatened to go on a seven-day strike if the hospital was not reconnected before Tuesday, April 9.
UCH Public Relations Officer, Mrs Funmilayo Adetuyibi, confirmed that the hospital’s electricity debt was over N400m, contrary to her initial claim.
Adetuyibi said the hospital needed help to settle the debt, stating that it was soliciting funds.
“The truth of the matter is that we are owing IBEDC and we need help. Help is the main thing. We are soliciting for funds; help is what we need.
“The amount is N495m; leave it at N495m. There was an error while we were sending the rejoinder, which I rectified and sent the corrected version. So, let’s leave all these and let’s look for help.
“That’s what we actually need. It’s the help that we need.”
It would be recalled that the UCH was disconnected by the IBEDC on March 19, the third time in less than two months.
Giving reasons for the disconnection, the Ibadan DisCo said it disconnected the hospital after attempts to engage with the hospital’s management regarding the N495m debt, which it said had persisted for over six years.
But the UCH spokesperson had last week denied owing N495m, saying the current UCH administration, led by Prof. Jesse Otegbayo, assumed office on March 1, 2019, and inherited over N27m as of February 27, 2019.
She added that it had since ensured the monthly payment of bills brought by IBEDC.
However, when Adetuyibi was contacted on Tuesday that the IBEDC spokesperson, Busolami Tunwase, had insisted that the debt was N495m, she admitted that there was an error while writing her initial rejoinder.
