Power supply has been restored at Wau Teaching Hospital in Western Bahr el Ghazal State after the Health Pool Fund intervened with funding for the next two months.

In July, the Director General at the Wau Teaching Hospital, Dr. Thon Mangok, revealed that the facility would start charging patients fees for treatment after the Health Pool Fund (HPF) which has been supporting the hospital announced that it was pulling out.

Last week, patients at the health facility reported paying fees to buy fuel for the generator in order to undergo surgeries.

The state minister for health, Dr. Vincent Taban, said Health Pool Fund gave some funds to the regional referral hospital for a period of two months.

“As we are speaking, the fuel that is meant for the electric power generator within Wau Teaching Hospital is already procured and the electric power supply is on and will continue for exactly the duration two months extension under Health Pool Fund (HPF) grant to the health sector,” he said.

The minister said the power outage was temporary and happened due to a lack of funding but that the hospital, state, and national health ministries are seeking alternative funding.

“What is needed for Wau Teaching Hospital to function should be provided,” Taban said. “Secondly, we are advocating that if Wau hospital is serving greater Bahr el Ghazal region, there should also be a contribution from the other state ministries that are benefiting from Wau hospital.”

The minister also urged the national government to increase the budget of the hospital to avoid depending on partners.

On his part, The Wau Teaching Hospital director, Dr. Thon Mangok, confirmed the resumption of power supply at the hospital but said the budget allocated by the national health ministry to the hospital was insufficient.

“The government is providing what it can, including the salaries, but the allocation is not enough. As the director, I know the kind of budget coming for incentives and other little things which they give us,” Dr. Mongok said. “The budget does not cover fuel because the price of a liter of fuel in the market is about 1,200 SSP and we use 200 liters a day, so this means what is coming is very little.”