Lack of round-the-clock power supply to SDH Hazratbal takes toll on patients

Srinagar, Jan 4: Sub-district hospital (SDH) Hazratbal is facing huddles in ensuring patient care as the hotline power supply has been defunct for a year now.

The doctors and paramedics at the hospital said that overall patient care is taking a hit due to the issue.

The officials said that being a major hospital in the vicinity and catering to a vast area of Hazratbal outskirts, hundreds of patients are getting affected in absence of an uninterrupted power supply.

A paramedic at the hospital said that important facilities like x-ray machines, labs, and other equipment require an uninterrupted power supply, and they are in dire need of the service.

“For more than a year, the issue has been lingering. Be it x-ray, labs, or heating systems, everything is getting crippled due to the issue. As we are in the middle of harsh winters, heating systems like ACs are very vital for both patients and staff. Major equipment like CBC analysers and other lab equipment need an uninterrupted power supply, and the same is unavailable as we don’t have a dedicated hotline,” said a paramedic.

The officials said that important units like the labour room at the hospital require an uninterrupted power supply. They said that the defunct hotline is making it impossible to ensure that.

Dr. Farah Shafi, Block Medical Officer (BMO) SDH Block Hazratbal, said that the hotline power connection worked briefly after being introduced over a year back. “The facility has been defunct since then. The hospital receives hundreds of patients, and many services depend on the uninterrupted power supply,” she said.

“We receive patients like accident cases and other emergency patients on a daily basis as the hospital is a major health institute working 24/7 in the area. Due to reasons unknown to us, the hotline power supply has been defunct for over a year, and we have to exhaust our vital resources to keep the emergency facilities working. We have labs and important equipment that require an uninterrupted power supply which is not available to us,” she said.

Dr Farah said that she has communicated multiple times in writing about the same issue to the Power department, “but so far, the service is down.”

Lenin Kumar Kundu, Executive Engineer Kashmir Power Distribution Corporation, said that the hospital authorities have to follow a procedure and communicate with the Power department to avail a hotline.

“Either there has to be a 24/7 feeder that is available in the vicinity to feed the hospital with the supply. In case the health authorities require a special line, they have to write to us, and we will make an estimate, and they will have to pay for the same. In that case, there has to be a proper tendering process,” Kundu said.

When asked about the Power department providing the hotline to the SDH for a brief period a year back, the official expressed ignorance on the same.