- Nigeria’s teaching hospitals are struggling to survive due to skyrocketing electricity costs, inadequate power supply, and high diesel costs, which threaten critical healthcare delivery and training.
The average monthly electricity bill for some of these hospitals is staggering. For instance, the Nation Orthopaedic Hospital in Lagos has seen its bill rise from N18 million to N45 million. The Federal Medical Centre in Ebute Metta, Lagos, pays N20 million for only four hours of electricity daily. These exorbitant costs are crippling the hospitals, making it challenging for them to provide essential medical services and train future healthcare professionals.
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission’s (NERC) segmentation system, which prioritizes energy distribution based on expected hours of supply, has lumped most hospitals into Band A. This means they are expected to receive up to 20 hours of electricity daily but pay significantly higher tariffs. As a result, hospital administrators are struggling to navigate a landscape where reliable power is scarce, and operational costs are at an all-time high.
