The House of Representatives said it would increase budgetary allocations of tertiary health facilities towards addressing high electricity bills and strengthening quality healthcare delivery services across Nigeria.
The Chairman, of the House Committee on Health, Mr Amos Magaji, said this yesterday in Zaria during an oversight visit to Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH) Zaria.
He said that beyond increasing the overhead of these facilities, the committee would discuss with the Federal Ministry of Power and other key stakeholders in the sector to address the challenge.
Magaji said some hospitals were threatening to close down over what he described as exorbitant electricity bills. “ABUTH used to have N10m electricity bills monthly but from N10m, the bill has increased to over N70m per month and the situation is similar in most of the hospitals across the country.
“If the overhead for 2024 was N100m or N120m, you are spending such an amount on electricity alone in two months, it will then be very difficult for you to cope,’’ he said.
Magaji said the National Assembly and management of tertiary health facilities would also leverage on renewable energy to reduce the burden on electricity and diesel for generators.
The chairman expressed concern over the poor number of personnel of the hospital, adding that ABUTH was a prestigious tertiary health facility with a 1,000-bed capacity.
He said that the number of workers to man the facility was far less than the staff in the hospitals with less bed capacity. The chairman, therefore, urged Nigerians to take advantage of the equipment and qualified medical personnel at the facility to reverse medical tourism.
Magaji tasked the medical personnel to improve their attitude towards patients and charged the institution to reclaim its reputation for providing quality and affordable health care services.
This, according to him, can be achieved through strict adherence to ethics and improved commitment to the system.
Magaji commended the unions in the hospital for staying to serve their country while many medical personnel were moving out of the country.
Earlier, Prof. Hamid Umdagas, Chief Medical Director of the Hospital told the committee that manpower and electricity were the major challenges of the hospital.
