Patients in the Kurnool General Hospital were forced to spent a sleepless night in the gynaecological, male medical IV ward and trauma care units owing to a 14-hour power cut. Power supply was restored at 9 a.m. on Thursday.
Though the electricity officials were reportedly informed about the disruption in supply, which occurred at 7 p.m. on Wednesday after a large tree branch fell on a service wire, they turned up only on Thursday morning, the hospital staff alleged. Absence of a generator connection for the wards added to the patients’ hardship. A generator connected to the gynaecological operation theatre, labour ward, superspeciality and maternal and child care wards was run for about 12 hours to ensure alternative power supply.
Fear of cats
Patients in the gynaecological post-operative ward spent the night in fear and were awake all through, when hospital staff alerted them to be wary of the scope of cats entering the ward and attacking infants in the darkness.
A woman, Krishnaveni, who delivered a child three days ago, said her daughter faced discomfort and could not sleep all night. Mabunnisa of Hussainpuram, who delivered twins a week ago, had to stay awake and guard her infant son fearing that cats could injure him. Her seven-day-old daughter suffered from jaundice and was in the natal ward. Her relative, Hussainmamma, said she drove a cat away when it tried to enter the ward in the darkness.
Resident Medical Officer Y. Srinivas inspected the affected wards on Thursday. As cats entered the wards during power cuts through the ramp leading to the first floor, a grill door would be fitted at the ramp to prevent their entry, Dr. Srinivas said.
Proposals would be sent to the government for sanction of funds to install 50 inverters, costing Rs. 30,000 each, to ensure uninterrupted power supply in the wards which did not have generator connection, he said. Steps were being taken to ensure that such a problem did not recur in future, he said.
