The hospital’s Chief Information Officer, Hauwa Inuwa Dutse, confirmed the deaths on Monday, linking them directly to the power outage that disrupted life-support machines.
Tragedy struck at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH) after three patients in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) died following the disconnection of electricity supply by the Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO).
The hospital’s Chief Information Officer, Hauwa Inuwa Dutse, confirmed the deaths on Monday, linking them directly to the power outage that disrupted life-support machines.
“On that very day, Friday, there were four patients on admission, and due to the power outage, three of them died,” she said.
KEDCO had cut off supply to the hospital over an outstanding debt of N949.88 million, demanding full settlement of the arrears in addition to the August bill of N108.95 million within 10 working days.
Daily Trust reports that staff in the hospital’s pediatric unit said newborns on admission were also struggling, as the wards relied solely on generator power.
“The generators cannot run non-stop; they have to be turned off for some hours before being restarted. This situation is endangering the lives of babies and other patients.”
The source also urged both AKTH and KEDCO to urgently resolve their disputes in order to prevent further loss of lives.
“The hospital has already begun to record deaths. If this continues, the catastrophe in healthcare delivery will only worsen,” he said.
Meanwhile, staff at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH) on Monday described the weekend blackout as “crippling.”
According to one staff member, “It affected everything. We couldn’t work effectively. The little power you see now is from solar, which doesn’t support sockets. We couldn’t use computers or run machines,”
One of the other workers in the emergency ward said: “The hospital cannot run on generators alone. Some units don’t even have solar backup. What we went through was very bad.”
However, by late Monday afternoon, it was gathered that the solar batteries supplying parts of the administrative block were already showing low-battery warnings.
Meanwhile, KEDCO rejected the hospital’s claim that three patients had died due to a power outage, describing the allegation as an act of blackmail.
The KEDCO’s Head of Corporate Communications, Sani Bala Sani stated, “The hospital is just trying to blackmail us as light had already been restored even before their outburst.”
He explained that the crisis arose from efforts to separate AKTH’s main hospital facilities from the staff residential quarters in order to ensure uninterrupted power for critical medical services.
According to him, the hospital’s main campus is linked to the 33kV Zaria Road feeder, classified as Band A, which provides an average of 22 hours of electricity daily.
However, he alleged that AKTH management insisted on keeping the staff residences on the same feeder as the hospital—a decision he said compromised supply stability.
“This led to a severe fault which caused the recent outage we had consistently sought to prevent,” he said.
KEDCO alleged that staff quarters within the hospital premises had failed to pay electricity bills, a situation it said was worsening the institution’s financial burden.
In a letter dated August 12, 2025, the company’s Chief Commercial Officer, Muhammad Aminu Dantata, informed AKTH of an outstanding debt of ₦949.88 million as of August.
The hospital was further directed to settle its August bill of ₦108.95 million within 10 working days or risk withdrawal of power supply from “non-essential” areas.
While stressing its commitment to uninterrupted electricity for the hospital’s critical facilities, KEDCO urged AKTH to cooperate in separating its supply lines and to honor debt repayments in good faith.
Meanwhile, the Kano State Police Command intervened in the standoff, facilitating the restoration of electricity to the hospital.
In a statement signed by the Command’s spokesperson, SP Abdullahi Haruna Kiyawa, police said the move was necessary due to the security and humanitarian risks posed by the blackout, which had already disrupted essential medical services.
The peace meeting, chaired by Commissioner of Police Ibrahim Adamu Bakori at the Bompai Police Headquarters, brought together AKTH’s Chief Medical Director, Prof. A. Abba Sheshe, and KEDCO’s Managing Director/CEO, Dr. Abubakar Shuaibu Jimeta. After deliberations, Dr. Jimeta ordered immediate reconnection of power to the hospital.
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