Northern grid failure tests endurance of patients at civil hospital

The people of Bathinda, especially patients at the Civil Hospital, went through hell because of the northern power grid collapse on Sunday night.The nine hours of electricity blackout created worst conditions at the Civil Hospital last night, emergency medical officer Dr Gurmail Singh has confirmed.

"The man to run the generators was not at work," he said, "and he had also the keys to the generator room." Only the emergency ward had any power, while the medical and surgical wards had none."

Patients recovering from surgeries and eye operations were in most discomfort. "Last night, fans were not working and our pleas for deploying generators had no effect," said patient Krishan Devi of Baga village in Bathinda district.

"The condition became worse when there was no water to drink or clean hands. The reverse-osmosis (RO) systems at the hospital don't work and for the past one week I'm here, I buy water from outside everyday."

Rubal Kaur of Housefed Colony awoke drenched in sweat and found that the air-conditioners had stalled. There was huge rush at the RO units to get water to drink, and at petrol pumps to get diesel for generators.