The Minority in Parliament is pushing for the immediate reversal of a new government directive that public hospitals must pay for their electricity bills using their Internally Generated Fund (IGF).

This comes after the Tain MP, Adama Sulemana, revealed that the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCO) had disconnected the Tain District Hospital from the national power grid for owing over GH¢7 million.

The directive which took effect on June 1, has left many district hospitals with colossal debts, leading to the disconnection of five health facilities in the Bono East region as part of the NEDCO’s debt recovery exercise.

Reacting to this on the floor of parliament yesterday, MP for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, described the new policy as outrageous and must be reversed.

He said, “At least as for hospitals they must be exempted from these disconnections. They have to be exempted especially as this is a new policy. They have to be exempted.

“I mean imagine preterm babies who are in incubators and then they disconnect, we’re just killing the children.

“It is crucial, it is about human life, it is about the right to life and the earlier this policy is reversed, this new policy which started June 2023 which is alien to our country, since independence we have never had this policy. It’s so alien it must be reversed.”

Meanwhile, Adama Sulemana has urged parliament to compel the government to bear the electricity cost for the effective running of the Tain District Hospital and other district hospitals to avoid further power cuts.