After several hours of being disconnected from the national electricity grid due to a GH¢20 million debt owed to the Northern Electricity Department company of the Volta River Authority (VRA/NEDco), the Upper West regional hospital has been reconnected to allow for negotiations on payment modalities between the power provider and the facility.
The regional hospital is among several other institutions including the Wa Technical University that suffered disconnections as the VRA/NEDco embarks on a revenue mobilization drive to retrieve over a GH¢50 million debt from its customers in the Upper West region.
Citi News’ Latif Mahama reported that the VRA Northern Electricity Department on Tuesday, April 18, 2023, commenced a revenue mobilization exercise to retrieve over GH¢50 million owed by public/private institutions as well as individuals in the Upper West region.
The medical director of the Upper west regional hospital, Robert Amesiya bemoaned government’s failure to honour its financial obligations to the facility.
The regional medical director blamed the high electricity bills on the design of the ultramodern 160-bed capacity hospital.
“We are faced with these challenges due to government’s inability to honour its financial obligation to the facility. We are yet to receive seed capital for the running of the hospital since its commissioning in August 2019. The hospital’s capacity is big hence the huge bill we have been receiving,” he said.
The upper west regional hospital is the major referral centre for the 190,000 inhabitants of the region.
Citi News checks revealed that the facility operates on close to 500 air conditioners and some high electricity-consuming equipment.
Though the hospital is reconnected to the national grid, management is appealing for agent support from the government to save the facility from a collapse as the GH¢1.2 monthly electricity bill is way higher than the monthly internal revenue of the hospital.
Management of the VRA/NEDco was not available for comments at the time of filing this report.