From Sola Ojo, Kaduna

For more than six months, the General Hospital, Sabo, Chikun local government area of Kaduna State has been operating without electricity and water supply, findings have revealed.

When this correspondent visited the ever-busy facility due to its strategic location, on Thursday, June 1, there was no electricity supply and the staff had to cross a dual carriage road to fetch water as often as possible.

Unofficial accounts within the facility located a stone’s throw from Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemical Company (KRPC) and other corporate entities said the problem started when the transformer that supplies the facility developed a fault in November 2022.

The sources further revealed that after serious effort, the transformer was craned away for repair by the concerned authority and was returned in February 2023. Unfortunately, while they were trying to recharge it at its base, it blew up again and nothing serious has been done about it by the concerned government ministry and agency.

Further findings revealed that the hospital has been relying on generating set which is been fueled by the hospital possibly from stipends it charges clients for laboratory services.

A source who spoke in confidence said “the problems in this hospital are many. It is possibly the least funded and staffed facility of this status in Kaduna town. Even medical professionals are leaving now and then. Sometimes, we don’t have any doctor around at night because the doctor’s quarters are not just habitable coupled with the issue of light and water.

“We have been without light and regular water supply since last year. It was not the issue of disconnection but that of a faulty transformer. The transformer packed up around October and November last year.

“To the best of my knowledge, the management has taken pain to write to the concerned authorities and even met with politicians, companies and individuals to help. Some even came here and talk as if we would see a new transformer the following day. But as we speak, we are where we were six months ago.

“I learned that the management is begging a nearby company for permission to connect to their transformer and that is if the transformer has not been overloaded.

“How can a facility like this be in darkness for several months and the government will keep quiet? The source queried.

Confirming the above information, Mrs Faith Garba, who has her baby admitted to the facility lamented how the medical doctor and nurses who were attending to her baby were using their cellphone touch light to see.

“There is no light and water here. Even the mosquito nets in this pediatric ward are no longer serving. I have to go and bring a mosquito net for my baby pending the time we will leave here because this place is like a mosquito colony.

“Doctors on calls, nurses and record officer using their phones to attend to patients speak volumes. This facility needs several urgent help not necessarily from the government alone”, she yelled.