Defaulting of electricity payments Red notices to hospitals

• Red power bills issued as arrears pile up
• Utility and maintenance arrears amount to over Rs 159 Million
• CEB withdraws from power supply maintenance  

By Sheain Fernandopulle  

Several government hospitals including the Colombo National Hospital are on the brink of another crisis as the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) has warned of possible power outages due to the failure to settle defaulted payments of electricity and maintenance bills, Daily Mirror reliably learns.   

According to the informed sources, several government hospitals including the Colombo National Hospital, Mannar District General Hospital, Peradeniya Teaching Hospital, Colombo East Base Hospital Mulleriyawa, and the Infectious Disease Hospital have received ‘Red’ electricity bills for not clearing previous dues.  

As such, the electricity arrears of the Peradeniya Teaching Hospital, Mannar and Mulleriyawa Hospitals are estimated as Rs 70 Million and Rs. 14 Million and Rs 2 Million.   
Hospital sources told Daily Mirror that they had received a proportion of due amounts while the full amount is still to receive from the Health Ministry and Provincial Councils to settle defaulted payments.   

Meanwhile, the CEB has written to the Health Ministry Secretary via a letter dated at July 20 informing to take immediate steps to settle utility and maintenance arrears amounting to Rs 159 Million at six hospitals in the Colombo City.  

Accordingly, the utility and maintenance arrears at National Hospital, De Soysa Maternity Hospital, National Dental Teaching Hospital, Lady Ridgeway Hospital, National Institute for Nephrology Dialysis & Transplantation, National Eye Hospital and Castle street hospital for women have been estimated as Rs 121 Mn, Rs 5.2 Mn, Rs 2.3 Mn, Rs 9.8 Mn, Rs 1.1 Mn, Rs 4.6 Mn and Rs 11.7 Mn.   

The CEB has also informed the Health Ministry Secretary that they have already withdrawn from utility and maintenance services from aforementioned hospitals except National Hospital and warned that the CEB would not take any responsibility in the event of any power outage consequent to the failure to settle due amounts. Several attempts of Daily Mirror to contact Health Ministry Secretary  and Director General Health Services failed.