A group of young professionals, operating under the auspices of Legacy Stars of Ibadan (LSI) and affiliated with the Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII), has called on the federal government, led by President Bola Tinubu and Minister of Health and Social Welfare Professor Muhammad Ali Pate, to suspend and investigate the current and previous management of the University College Hospital (UCH) over the past ten years.
LSI emphasised that this action is necessary to address and find lasting solutions to the persistent power outages affecting the teaching hospital.
The group made these statements in a press release issued after their monthly meeting, which took place on Sunday at Ibadan House, Oke Aremo.
It is important to note that UCH has been experiencing power outages in recent months due to debts owed to the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC).
In March of this year, IBEDC cut off power supply to the hospital due to unpaid debts, and once again in November, power was cut due to the same issue.
In their statement, signed by LSI President Mogaji Saheed Oyewale and Secretary Barrister Kazeem Oladepo, the organization urged the federal government and Minister Professor Muhammad Ali Pate to investigate the management of the hospital in light of the ongoing power outages.
“The monthly meeting of LSI was held on Sunday, 1st December, 2024. Various issues affecting Ibadan, Oyo state and Nigeria in general were discussed and deliberated upon.
“One of the issues discussed and deliberated upon is the issue of incessant power outage at UCH and this was deliberated by members present.
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“We observed at the meeting that UCH has been having power outage in the last few months. The power supply was cut off in March this year. It was resolved when some individuals intervened. Recently, the power supply was cut off due to electricity debt.
“When there is no light, major things that should be done will not be done. The hospital is facing a lot of challenges and we don’t want this to continue.
“Many people who supposed to get medical attention in the hospital could not be attended to and this will have negative consequences on the health outcome of the people in general.
“We observed that this is an embarrassment. We want the federal government under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Minister of Health and Social Welfare to beam their searchlights and probe the current management and the previous ones.
“We have heard a lot of challenges facing the hospital. UCH as a tertiary health institution should not be in this sorry condition. The federal government should do something”.
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