Access to improved maternity healthcare services

May 12, 2023

Almost 1 billion people in developing countries are served by healthcare facilities with unreliable or non-existent electricity supply, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Electricity can be the difference between life and death, allowing critical medical equipment to be powered and sterilized, vaccines to be preserved and babies to be delivered safely.

In Nigeria, the persistently epileptic power supply is a huge obstacle for healthcare facilities. Most hospitals in Nigeria rely on diesel generators for their operations, limiting service provision due to high running costs.

Viathan Engineering Limited supplies gas power through an extension of its 6MW Marina distribution network in Lagos, having executed a Power Purchase Agreement with the Lagos State Government (LASG).

Lagos Island Maternity Hospital, a large, state-of-the-art maternity hospital in Lagos State, is one of the connected customers that benefitted from improved power supply reliability following InfraCredit’s Guarantee. Since 2018, the hospital has significantly expanded its access to healthcare services. Antenatal care has seen a 30% increase in patient numbers, treating 26,993 women in 2022, whilst vaccine storage has increased by 75%.

Mrs Elizabeth Champion, Head of Nursing at Island Maternity Hospital in Lagos, Nigeria, explains:

“Since 2018, we have been able to confidently attend to patients, especially pregnant women without fear of electricity blackouts, which helps reduce maternal mortality in Lagos state. We can keep our vaccines cold, as vaccines need to have constant electricity to keep their usefulness. Previously, when there was prolonged electricity blackouts in the hospital, we spent up to 26 million Naira monthly on 31,000 litres of diesel. Connecting the hospital to the power plant has reduced our daily operating costs.”