TheCable

The joint action committee (JAC), the umbrella body of unions at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Oyo state capital, has directed all workers to work from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily due to the lack of electricity in the facility.

The Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) had disconnected the power supply to UCH over “technical faults and indebtedness”.

IBEDC had said UCH’s debt to the company stands at over N400 million, spanning over six years.

But Jesse Otegbayo, UCH chief medical director (CMD), had accused the company of giving the hospital industrial bills.

Speaking with NAN on Tuesday, Oludayo Olabampe, chairman of (JAC), said the institution had been without electricity since March 19.

“Workers would now work from 8 am to 4 pm only because it is dangerous and risky to attend to patients in that situation,“ he said.

“We held a meeting with the management this morning but the issue is that there is no electricity. So, from today, Tuesday, April 2, we will work until 4 p.m. We are not attending to any patient after 4 p.m.

“This means that we won’t admit patients because the nurses that will take care of them will not be available after 4 p.m. and you don’t expect patients to be on their own from 4 p.m. till 8 a.m. the following day.

“If patients need blood tests, the lab will not work, if they need radiography, the radiographers will not work, the dieticians in charge of their food too will not work after 4 p.m.

“We also gave management another 14-day ultimatum which started counting from March 27, and if after 14 days power is not restored, we will embark on a days warning strike.”

Reacting to the move, Otegbayo, said the union did not officially write the management before taking such a decision.

“I have not heard about that, if they are going to do that, they should write to management officially, and then the management will respond,” he said.

“There are rules that govern government service, you can’t just decide what hours you work and expect to be paid full-time.

“If they go ahead to do that without informing management officially, management has a way of applying the rules to pay them for the number of hours which they worked.

“The proper thing is for them to put it in writing because they didn’t write officially to the management before taking the decision.”