University College Hospital, Ibadan has come out to clarify that it did not owe the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company a N495m bill, contrary to news being circulated.
UCH’s Public Relations Officer, Mrs Funmilayo Adetuyibi, stated this in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria on Wednesday in Ibadan.
Earlier, IBEDC had cut off the supply of power to UCH due to accumulated bills of ₦495m, thus throwing the medical home into darkness.
However, the PRO said that it was not true that the hospital had an accumulated bill of ₦495m over the last three years and that the present UCH administration under the leadership of Prof. Jesse Otegbayo, took over the reins on March 1, 2019, and inherited over ₦27m as of February 27, 2019, adding that it had since ensured the monthly payment of bills brought by IBEDC.
“This management has had meetings with the IBEDC management on several occasions.
“Aside that, a payment plan on how to offset the backlog of the outstanding debt has been forwarded to both the consultant of IBEDC and the regional head of IBEDC.
“This payment plan was rejected by IBEDC. They insisted that first payment of ₦250m should be made within three months.
“This management’s catchphrase is ‘patients’ comfort and staff welfare.’ In essence, the issue of power supply and water supply to the hospital is critical to our operations.
“While we can say that we have outstanding bills to settle with the IBEDC, the hospital management has left no stone unturned in our proactive approach in making sure our teeming patients have access to adequate medical care at all times,” she said.
“As stated earlier, the contention we have with IBEDC is the old bill inherited by this current administration.
“We paid ₦50 million in January 2024, ₦55 million in February 2024 and ₦45 million in March 2024,” she said.
“We plead with well-meaning individuals, corporate organisations, and the international community at large to come to the aid of the hospital.
“UCH is a national heritage; our collective legacy, and the onus of maintaining it lies on us all,” Adetuyibi noted