Close on the heels of the death of three patients at Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai, allegedly due to power failure, the State government has decided to expedite its plan to install Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) units in 30 Government Hospitals and institutions being run by the Directorate of Medical Education.
“We will ensure the installation of UPS units to provide power backup for life support and other medical equipment within four to five weeks in all major hospitals. Procurement of materials is under way and installation will start shortly,” a senior Public Works Department official of the State government told The Hindu .
He said the government had allotted ₹10.97 crore for executing the project. Procurement and installation of 164 units of 15 KVA online UPS with high-power batteries and 24 units of 40 KVA diesel generator sets come under the project. The UPS units would have 3-phase inputs and single phase output for two-hour backup. The arrangement would quicken the transition time for switching the supply with minimum interruption and was likely to improve uninterrupted power supply in Government Hospitals in the event of power failure.
The official said that uninterrupted power supply was vital for operation theatres, Intensive Care Units, Intermediate Care Units and Neonatal Intensive Care Units. If generator was operated manually, it might take at least 5 to 10 minutes to turn it on. This situation should be avoided when a life-saving process was going on. It was very vital to keep the power supply uninterrupted during these processes. To avoid the time gap when power supply shifts from Electrical Board to reset a backup devices, UPS was required.
Hence, it had been decided to install UPS power backup in 30 government hospitals and institutions. It would also help during flood and cyclone due to non-availability of diesel for operating generators.
Nodal officers had been nominated to execute the project in Chennai, Tiruchi and Madurai regions. As per the plan, the KAP Viswanatham Government Medical College Hospital in Tiruchi and Government Medical College Hospital in Pudukottai would get seven and three UPS units respectively. Government Medical College Hospitals in Thanjavur and Tiruvarur would get five units each. Two units would be installed in Government Raja Mirasudar Hospital in Thanjavur. Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital would get a maximum of 24 UPS units followed by 17 units to Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai.
