On Friday, patients at the Government Royapettah Hospital (GRH) sat through one of the worst possible experiences in a hospital — a prolonged power cut.
Patients in the post-operative wards of neurology and plastic surgery on the third floor of the hospital’s casualty block experienced an eight-hour-long power cut.
“There was no power supply from 1 p.m. We faced a lot of difficulty without fans and lights. The power resumed only at 9 p.m.,” said a patient.
Patients, who have undergone various surgeries, including plastic and orthopaedic ones, are admitted to the third floor of the block. Many of them had undergone surgeries on their legs. There are more than 25 beds on the floor.
A patient’s attendant said some of the patients were shifted to the ward from the intensive care unit. “It was extremely difficult for them to lie down in the dark. We lit a candle and used cell phone torches in the evening. It was difficult to take medicines in the dark,” she said. A patient said it had proved risky to use the bathrooms and toilets without the lights.
Patients and their attendants said they had repeatedly asked members of the hospital staff to bring in an electrician to attend to the problem as only their floor was affected. “But no one responded properly. We approached an electrician but no one turned up till late in the evening,” another attendant said.
A senior hospital authority said the power failure could have been caused by a fault in wiring.