Pregnant women are forced to deliver in the darkness at Bunagok health facility due to lack of electricity in Awerial County, Lakes state.
This is because the only source of light – the solar system has broken down.
The solar system was providing light for doctors to conduct urgent operations in the delivery and emergency wards during the night.
According to John Ariik Makeer, the Deputy Payam Administrator of Bunagok, the facility has been without light for the last 3 weeks.
He said four women have delivered – with difficulties – in the facility since the lights went off.
“I have seen this week a scenario where 4 women delivered one night and there was no light. This makes it hard to attend to emergencies at night. Our call as the community in Bunagok is to fix this solar power so that the operations go on well as it was,” Ariik stated.
Medical staff are also unable to respond to emergency calls or coordinate work because their mobile phones are not charged all day.
James Manyiel Agup, the Acting County Medical Officer for Awerial Health Department said they are working on fixing the issue.
“We are aware of the problem of power in Bunagok and we also feel it. We hardly receive communications during emergencies. We reported this to the higher office and they promised us to provide an electrician who will be coming from Yirol to Bunagok to help us in fixing the solar power,” he revealed.
It is believed the solar system was affected by torrential rains and floods that have impacted operations in Awerial County.