Kano (Nigeria): The Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO) has urged Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH) to settle its N949.88 million debts as of the end of August or be ready for disconnection.
The KEDCO also asked the hospital to settle the N108.95 million bill for August in full within 10 working days.
This is contained in a statement issued by its Head of Corporate Communications, Mr Sani Bala, on Monday in Kano.
According to Bala, the hospital has an outstanding liability of N949.88 million as of August, and it is expected to settle its August bill of N108.95 million in full within 10 working days, or the company will decide on its next course of action.
He frowned at the huge debts recorded on the electricity consumed, saying, “No payment has been made for electricity consumed at the residential complex despite its negative impact on service delivery and KEDCO’s operations”.
He recalled that the KEDCO, in a letter dated Aug. 12, and signed by the Chief Commercial Officer, Mr Muhammad Aminu, had notified the AKTH of its plans to withdraw electricity services from staff quarters and non-essential areas due to partial settlement of bills.
He, however, assured the public that electricity supply to health facilities, especially those offering critical and life-saving services, would remain a top priority.
He also assured that KEDCO remains committed to providing uninterrupted electricity to the hospital as a foremost health institution, while appealing for its cooperation on the separation exercise.
Bala further explained that electricity had since been restored to the AKTH after an ongoing process to separate the main hospital campus and health facilities from the staff quarters and residential complex.
” The main campus and health facilities are connected to a top-priority 33KVA Zaria Road feeder to enjoy an average of 22 hours of daily supply under Band A services.
” However, the AKTH management has continued to insist that staff quarters and residential homes remain on the same feeder as the hospital, and this has continued to pose repeated risks to the stability and reliability of supply,” he said.
The head of corporate communication noted that several attempts to separate the two lines were unsuccessful due to management’s resistance and eventually resulted in a severe fault that caused the recent outage.
He added that to safeguard an uninterrupted supply to the hospital, the company proceeded with the separation of the two supply lines.