The Northern Electricity Distribution Company of Ghana (NEDCo) has begun power disconnection to customers, companies, corporate entities, and institutions that owe them.
This mass disconnection exercise is to retrieve their accumulated and outstanding debts from customers to ensure quality and improve upon their services as expected of them.
The operation reached the destination of Tain District Hospital at Nsawkaw in the Bono region. This hospital is one of the advanced centres in Ghana, constructed under the 8-Number Euroget De Invest and commissioned in November 2022, and therefore can never be operationally underestimated. It serves “referred” cases from nearby communities like Banda, Wenchi, Seikwa, and the rest.
In the process of the operation, they came across a huge sum of operational debt for about three months accumulated and outstanding. The total cost as of September 2023 is six million four hundred thousand Ghana cedis (GHC 6,400,000.00). The hospital tried to organise funds to settle some amount, which they (NEDCo) considered to be a token, and ended up disconnecting the whole institution.
Speaking to Tain FM, the Medical Superintendent, Dr. Philip Taah-Amoako, stressed that the painful tragedy happened on October 13.
He said revenue generation from the hospital cannot settle the total bill, which is three times higher than their generation since this modernised hospital is located in a low-income generation area.
“A meeting with all the stakeholders, including the DCE, NEDCO, and hospital authorities, was held three months ago, and it was unanimously agreed for the hospital to pay it in installments. Later on, they rescinded their decision on the agreement with the excuse of laying down the formalities and processes of their books and went ahead to disconnect us,” the doctor said.
Dr. Amoako made a passionate appeal to the government, the Ministry of Health, and the Ghana Health Service Director General to come to their aid.