Kenya Power to Coast General Hospital: 'We are sorry'

A technician of the Kenya Power at work. [File, Standard]

The Kenya Power has apologised to the Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital for outage experienced at the facility on Tuesday.

The Kenya Power said in a statement on Friday, March 10 that the company got into a dispute with the County Government of Mombasa over unpaid power bills amounting to Sh120 million.

The county administration owed the power firm the said-amount for supply to its main offices and Kongowea Market.

The Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital, a key facility in the region, experienced outage earlier in the week, especially on Tuesday.

The outage endangered the lives of patients who are depending on electricity-powered equipment for treatment, such as renal dialysis.

"On Tuesday, 7th March 2023, a line supplying power to the Coast General Hospital and its environs tripped and upon restoration, the hospital remained without supply because of faulty equipment that resulted from a flashover on the unit supplying electricity to the hospital," Kenya Power said in a statement.

"This situation was not rectified immediately, as our team could not access the site because the Mombasa County officials impounded our vehicles following the disconnections that had been done on Monday," added Kenya Power.

"After several attempts, power was successfully restored to the hospital on the same day at 7.15pm. Kenya Power regrets this incident and takes this opportunity to apologise to the hospital for any inconvenience caused. At the same time, the company wishes to reiterate that protection of life, in whatever form, is our top priority."