Private and government hospitals are badly hit by the power-cuts caused by the indefinite strike of electricity employees protesting against the Central government’s proposal to bifurcate the State.
While the prolonged power-cut is causing several direct logistic problems, it has also indirectly led to shortage of oxygen as the bottling plants have been shut down due to power crisis.
In the Dr. N.T.R. Government General Hospital, power is being supplied from generators to only sections where doctors are providing emergency services such as casualty and maternity wards.
There is no power supply in any of the other wards.
While out-patients are being screened by skeletal staff, patients are being asked to go out for diagnostic investigations as the in-house CT scan, ultra-sound scans, and other equipment are not working on the power supplied by generators.
The general hospital on the Ring Road has two generators that are being operated on rotation.
The general hospital in Hanumanpet has two generators one of which is not working. There are no operations being scheduled because the government doctors are on strike.
Private hospitals are also facing severe problems because of prolonged power-cuts.
A corporate hospital, which has two full-fledged generators, has hired two more to provide required power.
“Generators cannot work for more than 3 or 4 hours at a stretch. They have to be stopped and allowed to cool before they are run again,” said CMD of another hospital. The power-cuts turned into a nightmare for doctors of an institution that treats patients with mental illness. None of the equipment used for monitoring the condition of the patients works accurately on power from generators.
“There is no problem as long as the generator works. But once it breaks down due to over-heating, all hell will break loose,” said head of another institution.
Several of the small hospitals and nursing homes have closed their door to new patients and are attending only on those who have already been admitted.
There is also shortage of oxygen with the hospitals suddenly stocking more than their requirement as a precaution.
Diesel scarcity
The hospital administrators are also worried as to what would happen if diesel suddenly becomes scarce.
