The Office of the Public Utilities (OPU) in Ondo State says it has concluded plans to power the 23 general hospitals in the state with solar energy.
Administrative Secretary of the OPU, Princess Abike Bayo-Ilawole, stated this during a meeting with heads of general hospitals and other major stakeholders on alternative energy for the state-owned hospitals on Monday in Akure.
“The Office of the Public Utilities, observed that in 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 frozen. At this level, we saw the need to come together and work. We have the human resources.
“We realised that some hospitals already have little solar facilities, and we need to improve on them and give to 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 issues with their solar system,” she stated.
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.
She also added that the Hospitals Management Board (HMB) would provide cost for maintenance of 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 government hospitals would surely key into it.
Adiji stated that the world is embracing renewable energy that is pollution-free, saying that it is less costly and more effective.
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, Mr Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, the public health facilities in the state will wholly embrace the move.
The hospital managers unanimously embraced the idea and promised to work with the government to achieve it.
