The Accra West Region of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has installed a 200kVA transformer for the Ga West Municipal hospital at Amasaman in Accra on Friday.
The transformer, which is aimed at improving power supply and reliability to the facility, was installed at the cost of GH¢ 200,000.00
Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, the General Manager, Accra West Region, Mr Ebenezer Ghunney, said the gesture was to ensure that the provision of healthcare to the people living within Amasaman and its environs was not jeopardised.
“Today’s inauguration is a corporate social responsibility activity. In this year, we sought to solve a persisting problem which will have a direct benefit on the people and communities we operate in and after several considerations, Ga West Municipal Assembly was chosen to be our beneficiary for this year,” he said.
He mentioned the company bore the full cost of the installation which included the 200kVA transformer, high tension poles, cables, fuses and other ancillary works.
According to Mr Ghunney, ECG was fully committed to providing quality, reliable and safe power supply to all of its customers within all its operational areas, and therefore called on customers to pay for electricity used as well as report anyone engaged in stealing power.
The medical superintendent of the hospital, DrEric Sarpong-Ntiamoah, said the facility serves more than 200,000 people within the municipality and beyond, adding that on the average, it serves 72,000 out-patients and 8,500 in-patients annually.
He also mentioned that the emergency unit of the hospital records more than 6,000 patients annually, which translates to more than 16 patients daily.
He said the facility, with its heavy electricity consumption and demand, did not have its own transformer to ensure stable power supply, explaining that it was because the transformation from a health centre to municipal hospital in 2008 was not accompanied by the needed infrastructural improvement.
DrSarpong-Ntiamoah indicated that the hospital was still kept on the same transformer that supplied the rest of the population, addingthat power- sharing on the same transformer with the growing population led to power tripping.
“We could be in darkness for as long as three days, though we are not in the era of ‘dumsor,’ sometimes parts of the facility will go off while other parts have power, and to fall on our 100kVA generating plant to ensure that surgical operations as well as our paperless system run smoothly,” he said.
He indicated that the hospital had so far spent more than GH₵ 40,000 on fuel for the generator alone, adding that the amount could have been channelled into purchasing equipment or medicine thereby aiding the provision of quality healthcare.
Dr Sarpong-Ntiamoah said due to the unstable power supply, a number of medical equipment and computers have been damaged and had made it expensive to run the hospital.
He thanked the management of Accra West ECG for the gesture and called on government and corporate institutions to support the hospital.
BY JEMIMA ESINAM KUATSINU