The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Tough time for doctors, patients

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Tuesday, Jul 08, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Tough time for doctors, patients

Faced with blackouts, government hospitals struggle to keep up essential services

A FILE PHOTO

WORRISOME: Even government hospitals like Gandhi are not spared from the power cuts.

HYDERABAD: The outpatient wards of Osmania General Hospital (OGH) function in near darkness between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. when over 3,000 patients throng the various departments of the hospital while mothers and their newly-born recuperate in near darkness at Nayapul and Koti maternity hospitals.

The Respiratory Intensive Care Unit (RICU) of the Chest Hospital plunges into darkness abruptly with even the generator failing. At Gandhi hospital, the administration is faced with the piquant situation of having to pay diesel bills, running into lakhs of rupees, because generators are forced to work overtime to supply power to the casualty ward and to the operation theatres.

Worst affected

To say that the spate of unscheduled power cuts has had its impact on patients and doctors alike at government hospitals, would be an understatement. The irony of it all is that it has not started raining yet, the season when short- circuits are rampant because of old wiring in most government hospital buildings. The outpatient and recuperating wards are worst affected while the casualty ward and operation theatres function just about normally using generators. “OGH does not have an electrician. The outpatient block is dark and dingy. Doctors and us patients suffer in the heat,” says P. Ramakrishna, an out-patient at the OGH Nephrology ward. Lack of adequate infrastructure, in terms of proper wiring, fans, tube-lights and A-C equipment, is leading to short circuits and break downs. The administrations in these hospitals are trying to make sure that power is uninterrupted during peak hours, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., when the inflow of patients is heavy.

“We are doing our best to maintain uninterrupted power supply,” says Gandhi Hospital Superintendent Dr. B. Balraju. Academic training sessions and classes are getting hit at Nayapul Hospital. “Power cuts are frequent. Apart from patients the administrative block is also affected. Academic sessions are getting postponed,” says Superintendent Dr. Uma.

The situation is not much different at Erragadda Chest Hospital.

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