The Federal Government of Nigeria has approved a 50% electricity subsidy for public hospitals across the country.
This initiative aims to reduce operational costs for healthcare facilities and ease the financial burden on patients.
The announcement was made by Dr. Tunji Alausa, the Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, during his visit to the National Neo-Psychiatric Hospital in Barnawa, Kaduna, on Thursday.
During his visit, Dr. Alausa also commissioned several new projects at the hospital. These included an Electronic Health Records system and a solarisation project at the dialysis unit, which features a solar-powered borehole and a 10.2 KVA inverter at the Abdulkareem Jika Yusuf COVID-19 Intervention Centre. Additionally, an alternative power supply was commissioned at the Lawal Jafaru Isah Emergency Complex.
Dr. Alausa emphasized that this subsidy is part of the government’s broader commitment to enhancing healthcare delivery nationwide. “This subsidy is part of our commitment to improving healthcare delivery across the country. It will help public hospitals manage their expenses better and provide relief to the patients,” he stated.
According to Alausa, the subsidy is designed to reduce the operating costs of public hospitals, thereby increasing efficiency and lessening the fees paid by patients.
In addition to the subsidy announcement, Dr. Alausa revealed plans to rename Federal Hospitals as Specialist Hospitals to broaden healthcare service delivery and reduce the stigma associated with psychiatric care.
“We are going to change the names of our Federal Hospitals to Specialist Hospitals to expand care delivery and destigmatize hospitals so that everybody can come here. While the core services will remain psychiatric, this renaming will allow for the continuous expansion of services,” he explained.
Dr. Alausa also commended the hospital’s Chief Medical Director, Dr. Aishatu Yusha’u Armiyau, for her leadership and attributed the hospital’s progress to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s campaign promises.
He also addressed ongoing challenges at the National Eye Care Centre, including the recent strike by Resident Doctors and the kidnapping of Dr. Ganiyat Popoola. He assured the hospital management that efforts were underway to secure her release and urged for calm.
The Minister further outlined the government’s strategy to address the mass exodus of medical staff by engaging Nigerian doctors in the diaspora and expanding Health Science Universities to increase student enrollment.
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“We know they are development institutions, they are social institutions. But inside the health and educational institutions, private businesses are hiding under them,” Dr. Alausa remarked.
“These people charge their customers commercially and they expect to be subsidised because they are located within the territories of these institutions. We said no, go and do a proper search and meter everybody.
“For the ones that are properly health and education-related, we are ready to subsidise them, even if they are on Band A.
“We are compiling our data. DisCos will collect a certain amount and the government will pay the balance. But we must get the data right so that we are not subsidising a private business that is charging its customers commercially. That will be an abnormal profit and it is unfair,” he concluded.
