By Adeboye Ado, Akure
The Office of the Public Utilities (OPU) in Ondo State says it has concluded plans to ensure the 23 General Hospitals across the state are connected to solar power to enable them perform and further enhance their services effectively and efficiently.
The Administrative Secretary of the OPU, Princess Abike Bayo-Ilawole stated this during an interactive meeting with heads of General Hospitals and other major stakeholders on alternative energy for the state hospitals on Monday in Akure.
“My office, the Office of the Public Utilities, observed that this post fuel subsidy removal era, people want to find ways of making things easy for themselves and the state government wants to make life easy for people. So, the state general hospitals have cancelled payment for hospitals registration cards and reduced some of the costs that may be putting agony on the citizens.”
“We are now looking at activities of the administrators of those facilities and we observed that the hospitals are always in the dark especially at night, even in the day, they are stuffy and they can’t keep some basic items that are needed to be freezed. At this level, we saw the need to come together and work. We have the Human Resources.”
“We realized that some hospitals already have little solar facilities and we need to improve on them and give unto those that do not have.”
“Our office will train their officials on how to handle minor issues on installed solar facilities and they can call us when they have major issue with their solar system,” she stated.
Princess Bayo-Ilawole assured the Health facility Managers that the solar system when installed would last long and be highly effective.
“I can assure you that it will last long. Solar energy is easiest to maintain and we will give to individual hospitals according to their needs,” she said.
The OPU Administrative Secretary also added that the Hospitals Management Board (HMB) would provide cost for maintenance of the renewable energy to the health facilities.
Also speaking, the Administrative Secretary, Ondo State Hospitals Management Board (HMB), Dr Ayodele Adiji, described the initiative as superb, saying that the government hospitals would surely key into it.
Adiji stated that the world is embracing renewable energy that is pollution-free, saying that it’s less costly and more effective. READ ALSO;
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He explained that some public hospitals had already started using solar power for their services.
According to him, with the help of the state governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, the public health facilities in the state will wholly embrace the move.
The Hospitals Managers unanimously embraced the idea stating that they were tired of darkness and therefore wanted to be attending to their patients in well-illuminated atmosphere.
