>
By Emmanuel Adeleke
The University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, has debunked the reports making rounds over the total blackout and blood bank downward trend, saying there is no such incident recorded at the hospital.
The Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee and Director of Clinical Services, Dr. Abiodun Moshood Adeoye, while speaking with newsmen on Tuesday, said there is no record of any negative blood transfusion or reaction as being reported.
He urged journalists to always approach the hospital to seek clarification on issues, adding that the UCH will be glad to address any request seeking clarification or reaction.
“Concerning the report, I can tell you that we are surprised because as the Director, Clinical Services, I am not aware of such. Immediately I heard about the report, what I did was to call the head of department and she confirmed there was no such issue. We called the engineering department as well to confirm, but they said they were also surprised that something like that was reported.
“We called our assistants and others who worked with us and they told us it was not true. We all found out that the information could not be true. We don’t know maybe some certain people are not happy with the progress we are making, though we cannot be perfect 100 per cent.
“So, we would have loved a situation where if the reporter had some issues and wanted clarifications, he or she should have approached us to ask questions, and we would have been very glad to address whatever the case may be, but this caught us by surprise. We are not aware of such and the report is not correct.
“As far as I am concerned as Director, Clinical Services, I don’t have any report on any blood transfusion we had that is viewed as bad transfusion. If the person can come up with more specific evidence on what he has seen, we can take it up from there. But as far as we are concerned, there is no such report. We have gone round and still doing our investigation, and if there is any report of such, I should have the report,” he said.
On electricity supply at the hospital, Adeoye noted that despite the very low supply these days, the hospital has relied on generating sets to complement the supply from electricity distribution company.
He said that the hospital has a lot of generating sets, but because of cost implication, the hospital is making use of over 40 generating set.
Adeoye explained that the blood bank, which the report said is experiencing downward trend, has two functioning generating sets, adding that it is the next in line to get inverters.
“Yes, I want to commend the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC), which has prioritised power supply for the UCH. We have up to 20 hours per day and we complement with our generators. But when they have problem, we rely solely on our generators. In all our service areas including Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Accident and Emergency and others, we run them on inverters. We have some of our machines that are on UPS that can run for many hours when there is power outage. We have a lot of generators but because of the cost implication, we only make use of over 40, which are currently running as we speak.
“We use to make sure that we rationalise, so that our service areas are not affected when there is power outage. We deprive some offices, including the comfort of ourselves and that of the chief executives as we can bare it. But our priority is the patients in the hospital.
“Hardly do we have this kind of crisis, if not about three weeks ago that there was a major problem with the Transmission Company of Nigeria, and they are working on it. So, as we are, we are running generator.
“Specifically, for the blood bank, a philanthropist donated a new generating set to the unit in October, 2022, but we have a permanent solution we are looking at. We want to increase the presence of inverters in all these service areas and the blood bank is among. As a matter of fact, the blood bank is the next on the line to get these inverters. We are also looking at the Independent Power Project (IPP). We have invited some companies and interviewed them. I believe they will come up very soon and all these issues of power outage will become a thing of the past in UCH,” he added
Adeoye called on well-meaning Nigerians who can assist the hospital to come forward like some philanthropists have done in the past.