FMC Nguru: MD Seeks House of Representatives Support To Address Electricity Problem

By Mohammed Kaka

The Medical Director, Federal Medical Centre Nguru, Yobe State, Professor Hadiza Usman, has appealed to the federal House of Representatives Committee on Health to assist in addressing the hospital’s poor electricity supply.

Professor Hadiza, who made the appeal during the health committee’s oversight visit, said power remains their major challenge, hence the need to address it for better health services.

While thanking the committee’s chairman and his team for the visit, the medical director also lamented over abandoned projects at the hospital, stressing the need to look into the projects.

On his part, the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Tertiary Health institutions, Mr Amos Magaji, said they were at the medical centre to check and ensure that the institution’s budget allocation is well utilised, and to also interact with the hospital’s management and staff on their challenges.

Speaking with newsmen shortly after interacting with the management of the health institution, Mr. Magaji said the major problems identified by the management during the discussion are abandoned projects, lack of power, and staff replacement.

He said the committee will ensure that the hospital gets the required support to reflect a tertiary institution. “This is the only federal tertiary institution in Yobe. So, “we have to make sure that this hospital receives all the support to reflect a tertiary health institution,” the Chairman explained.

On the issue of power, Hon. Magaji says, “We are committed to ensuring that the issue of power is critically looked into. We just finished a public hearing, and one of the agencies that we invited was the Ministry of Power because we know the huge burden that these hospitals are saddled with, especially as it regards power.

“I will not assure you that there’s going to be a sub-station here, but that needs to be considered based on the happenings at the national grid. But renewable energy is the way forward. Some wards don’t need to operate with electricity, they need solar so that when there’s no electricity, you can power the wards. With the sun that you have here, solar can provide complete electricity in the institution, but it is a matter of cost. So, we will look at all these things and know how to address the issue of power. “

Regarding the abandoned VVF centre and GOPD clinic projects, Mr Magaji directed the Managing Director to immediately submit relevant documents regarding the projects to the committee for possible intervention.

He explained, “For these two projects, we need to get a Quantity Surveyor to reevaluate the projects and let’s have that as soon as possible. If you can do it in the next one week, that’s fine. “