Three-Day Blackout at Niger State Hospital Leads to Heartbreaking Losses Among Newborns
A three-day power outage at the Minna General Hospital, Niger State capital has plunged patients into darkness and caused heartbreaking losses, raising serious concerns about the state of public healthcare facilities in Nigeria.
Fusion Chronicle Reporter gathered that the issue stemmed from the prepaid meter running out of credit, leaving the hospital without electricity for three days.
“We lost about six of these children last time when the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) went on strike as a result of power failure,” a source told this newspaper, describing the life-threatening consequences of power interruption
Recounting her ordeal to Fusion Chronicle Reporters, another source said, “There is a scenario of a lady who was supposed to undergo cesarean surgery on Saturday to remove her twins that are blocking each other, but before she could be moved into the theatre, power company seized light and they had to wait for the light to be restored.
“The light was restored on Sunday before the surgery was done, and she lost the two babies while she also battled with her life before she got better.”
Another source shared the painful memory of losing a daughter saying, “This post brought back memories of how my beloved 9-month-old daughter lost her life in this same Minna General Hospital while on oxygen due to power outage.
“The image of how she struggled to breathe cos the oxygen went off and the sound of other babies breathing in that ward that night still remains fresh in my mind.
“It’s 6 years now, and nothing has changed in this same hospital. May Allah bring a permanent solution to this menace.”
In response to these ongoing issues, a concerned resident of Minna urged Governor Umar Bago to look into the issue with urgency.
In addition he urged the governor to provide power generating/Solar plants with supporting funds to the general hospital Minna. Hospitals are too critical of the people to allow blackouts for a day and talk for more than three days.
Concerns over the continued power failures have also led to increased reliance on volunteers who donate diesel to power hospital generators. However, the long-term sustainability of this support remains uncertain.
In 2022 a similar incident occurred where a Facebook user posted “At 7:45pm, we entered the General Hospital, Minna, the family of the patients now going to fetch water and fuel while those that cannot bear it, move their patients to private hospitals.”
As of the time of publication, Fusion Chronicle Reporters’ text messages to the Niger State Commissioner of Information, Binta Manman, and the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Bologi Ibrahim, had not been responded to.
