PRESS RELEASE
THE ONLY TEACHING HOSPITAL IN DELTA STATE IS ON THE BRINK: DELSUTH CAN NO LONGER PROVIDE THE LEVEL OF CARE DELTANS DESERVE
The Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), Delta State University Teaching Hospital (DELSUTH), Oghara, expresses deep concern over the continued disruption of critical healthcare services at Delta State’s only teaching hospital following the failure of its step-down transformer on 18th June 2026.
More than one month later, following the delivery of a replacement transformer to the hospital premises on 12th July 2026, installation has commenced but remains incomplete, and electricity is yet to be restored from the national grid. Consequently, the hospital continues to rely on a limited generator schedule that provides only a few hours of electricity daily, leaving essential services significantly impaired.
The consequences have been profound.
Hospital Management has officially directed that:
No new inpatient admissions be undertaken.
Intensive Care Unit (ICU) admissions remain suspended.
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) admissions remain suspended.
Dialysis services remain suspended.
Patients requiring admission or intensive care should be stabilised and referred to other health facilities.
The practical implication is that, despite the suspension of the Medical and Dental Consultants’ Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) industrial action, most hospital wards remain largely empty because new admissions have been halted. Clinical activities have been reduced mainly to outpatient consultations during the limited hours of electricity and the temporary stabilisation of emergency cases before referral to other hospitals.
This is not how a tertiary teaching hospital is meant to function.
For many critically ill patients, stabilisation is only the first step. A woman with life-threatening obstetric haemorrhage may require an emergency Caesarean section or laparotomy. A patient with a ruptured ectopic pregnancy, perforated bowel, severe trauma, obstructed labour, acute renal failure requiring dialysis, or other surgical emergency often requires immediate definitive treatment—not simply stabilisation and referral. Every delay in providing such care may adversely affect patient outcomes.
Today, the only teaching hospital in Delta State is unable to consistently provide many of these essential tertiary services because of a prolonged infrastructure failure.
The effects extend far beyond patient care. Residency training has been severely disrupted. Undergraduate medical education has been adversely affected. Hospital revenue has declined considerably. Healthcare professionals are unable to practise to the full extent of their expertise, while patients and their families are compelled to seek specialist care elsewhere, often at significant financial, physical and emotional cost.
ARD DELSUTH acknowledges and appreciates the efforts of the Delta State Government in procuring the replacement transformer and recognises the ongoing installation process currently taking place. However, until the installation is completed, the transformer is energised, and DELSUTH is reconnected to the national grid, healthcare services will remain severely constrained.
Every additional day of delay translates into continued disruption of patient care, prolonged interruption of residency training, reduced hospital productivity and avoidable hardship for thousands of Deltans who depend on DELSUTH for specialist healthcare. The restoration of electricity is therefore no longer merely an engineering exercise—it is an urgent public health priority.
We therefore call on the Delta State Government, Hospital Management, the contractors handling the installation, BEDC Electricity Plc, and every relevant stakeholder to accord the completion, energisation and commissioning of the transformer the highest level of priority. Every effort should be made to complete the outstanding work and restore electricity to DELSUTH without further delay.
The people of Delta State cannot continue to have their only teaching hospital operating largely as a facility limited to outpatient consultations and referrals.
DELSUTH is the apex public referral and teaching institution in Delta State. It is where the sickest patients should receive definitive specialist care, where future specialists are trained, and where generations of healthcare professionals acquire the skills required to serve our State. It should never become a facility where definitive care is unavailable because of a prolonged infrastructure failure.
ARD DELSUTH remains committed to constructive engagement with Government and Hospital Management and will continue to advocate responsibly for measures that protect patients, strengthen healthcare delivery and preserve the integrity of our teaching hospital.
The people of Delta State deserve a fully functional teaching hospital.
The time to restore DELSUTH is now.
