By Mary Emeka
Patients were left stranded at the National Hospital, Abuja, on Monday following a power outage that disrupted medical and administrative services at the facility.
The incident, which occurred at about 1:00 p.m., affected several units of the hospital, leaving patients frustrated as they struggled to access consultations, medications and health insurance services.
Doctors were reportedly unable to conduct consultations because the hospital’s computer systems went down following the power outage.
Some patients who had already seen their doctors were also unable to purchase their prescribed medications because the pharmacy unit could not process and cost the prescriptions.
Patients whose medications had already been costed were equally unable to collect them, as the cash points were reportedly without power.
The outage also affected the health insurance unit, leaving staff unable to attend to clients.
A visibly frustrated mother carrying her 10-month-old baby on her back was heard saying: “What are all these issues with NEPA? I’m tired of this nonsense. Let me go home.”
She reportedly made the remark after efforts to have the names of her prescribed medications written out at the pharmacy unit proved unsuccessful.
Our correspondent observed patients moving around the hospital premises in frustration as they waited for power to be restored.
At the General Out-Patient Department (GOPD), a patient was heard saying, “NEPA don fuck up,” while another asked a nurse, “Nurse, are you sure it will come?”
“It will come,” the nurse, who was dressed in a wine-coloured uniform, responded.
An official at the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) desk told our correspondent that staff remained on the ground and would attend to patients once electricity was restored.
The official assured the agitated patients of the unit’s commitment to providing services despite the disruption.
As of 1:40 p.m., the hospital was still without electricity.
However, the sound of a generator could be heard from the hospital’s power house, while the emergency unit was fully illuminated.
Some patients who were aware that the emergency unit had electricity reportedly moved there to access pharmacy and payment services.
The development caused significant disruption to routine activities at one of Abuja’s major public healthcare facilities, leaving patients and staff waiting for normal operations to resume.