By CHIDINMA EWUNONU-ALUKO

The University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, has stopped admitting new patients as union members of the hospital embark on a five-day warning strike over restricted power supply.

The unions are the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MWHUN), National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), Nigerian Union of Allied Health Professionals (NUHAP), among others.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that all the union members in the hospital did not work on Monday as the strike was declared as early as 8.00 a.m.

The unions, under the umbrella of Council of UCH Union Leaders (CUUL), alleged that deliberate withholding of power crippled activities at the hospital, while patients suffered.

A Co- Chairman of CUUL, also the UCH ARD President, Dr Uthman Adedeji, told newsmen that electricity supplied to service delivery areas and residential quarters were being internally rationed and restricted by management.

He said the deliberate withholding of power crippled efficient service delivery, endangered patients, exposed staff hazards and undermined the integrity of the hospital.

Adedeji said that the hampered power supply resulted in cancellation of routine surgeries while theatre schedules were thrown into disarray.

He expressed regrets, saying, “Critical laboratory investigations results are not available to clinicians when needed while medications, reagents and vaccines are lost due to broken cold chains.

“Blood donors are bled under unconducive environment, research endeavours are ground to a new halt.

“Training of medical personnel have suffered irreparable setbacks and diagnostic, life-saving equipment remain idle.

“Patients who should receive care are being turned away, procedures are referred elsewhere and lives hang in the balance.

“A teaching hospital in 2026 is being forced to operate like a facility from a bygone era,” he said.

Adedeji said that a huge chunk of cases and procedures presented to UCH were being rejected or referred due to inadequate internal power distribution.

“The hospital is losing millions of naira daily in internally generated revenue; ironically, a cost-cutting measure has become a revenue-destroying policy.

“If this continues, the financial survival of UCH is at serious risk.

“Moreso, healthcare workers are being forced to operate under conditions that violate basic medical safety standards,” he said.

According to Adedeji, there is also severe water shortages due to inability to pump water, increased risk of hospital – acquired infections and surgeries conducted with headlamps.

“Nurses using mobile phone torch lights in wards, laboratories handling hazardous and aerosol-generating samples without functional fume cupboards.

“There is exposure to toxic and carcinogenic fumes due to inactive extraction systems, staff on night duty left in darkness, facing security risks.

“Staff and patient relatives manually fetching water to upper floors; these are not mere inconveniences but threats to life,” he said.

He also lamented that staff living within hospital quarters faced hardship of payment of band A electricity tariffs, plus additional charges imposed by management.

“In spite of that, they experience average access to only about one hour of electricity daily, faulty prepaid meters removed for over a year without replacement.

“Arbitrary estimated billing between N10,000 and N25,000 monthly regardless of actual consumption and persistent water scarcity affect families and students.

“Because of power restrictions, students are deprived of critical clinical exposure, essential procedures are diverted elsewhere and research activities are severely impaired.

“If this continues, the future of medical education and research in Nigeria will suffer long-term damage,” he said.

The unions, therefore, called for immediate cessation of internal electricity rationing and full transmission of all power supplied by IBEDC to service areas and residential quarters.

They also demanded immediate restoration of water supply across hospital facilities, hostels, and residential quarters.

They appealed to the Federal Ministry of Health, Ministry of Power, Federal Government and well-meaning Nigerians to urgently intervene in the case to prevent further deterioration.

They called for urgent repair or replacement of all faulty prepaid meters and immediate discontinuation of arbitrary estimated billing.

“We need reversal of the newly imposed rent structure within hospital housing.

“Also, let there be reinstatement of rent deductions at source in accordance with the Federal Government financial regulations.

“Where there’s darkness, there can be no healing, no training and no research; therefore, together we say ‘Let there be light’,” they stated.

Also, a Co- Chairman of CUUL, Mr Oladayo Olabampe, said the unions would come back together to re-strategise on what next to do if the demands were not met.

“The five-day warning strike has become inevitable; it is not about personal gain, but patient safety, institutional survival and professional dignity.

“This call for help is devoid of any political colouring or affiliations.

“The strike continues till Saturday, 8.00 a.m. if nothing comes up, and we will not keep quiet after all but may be forced to embark on an indefinite strike,” Olabampe said. (NAN)

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