Jinnah Hospital remains ‘power-less’ for 2 days

Load shedding has taken its toll on Jinnah Hospital where the electricity supply was resumed after two days on Thursday afternoon, while hundreds of patients, doctors and students of the hospital suffer, Pakistan Today has learnt. Jinnah Hospital gets electricity supply from two feeders: Allama Iqbal Medical College and Punjab University, both getting supply from the Model Town Grid. The situation became worse due to monsoon when the electricity supply was shut due to shutting down the main supply for load shedding. This has disturbed the entire system of one of the major public health facility in the city catering to patients coming from far flung areas.
Doctors in the hospital revealed that the electricity supply remained suspended since Tuesday causing a lot of inconvenience not only to patients in a critical condition but also to doctors and students both male and female doctors and nurses. They further said due to electricity shut down the water and gas supply to the hospital and hostels also remained suspended causing further inconvenience to boarders and patients. After a survey of the hospital, scores of patients in a critical condition in several wards including the surgical emergency, labour room, the intensive care unit, the cardiac care unit and others suffered as the scheduled list of operation was cancelled. “My wife is inside the labour room since morning and we still do not know if they are going to operate upon her…the electricity supply resumed at around 2pm but we still have no idea what is being done inside as even attendants are not allowed inside,” an attendant waiting outside the labour room said.
A senior doctor in the labour room further revealed that no patients are being admitted for operation as the sterilizing machines were not working and “without sterilizing the gowns and equipment we cannot operate and even now we have not started operations…only a few emergency cases were operated by using gowns from the store which have now finished”, adding that the same is happening for the past three days. Another doctor in the surgical ward said all operations have been cancelled in the emergency because there is no electricity. She said around 1,800 patients visit the Jinnah Hospital’s emergency every day many of whom need some sort of surgery, while all “elective” operations were cancelled.
The situation was critical most in the ICU ward where all patients are on ventilators. A doctor in the ICU said some ventilators have a back up time of 60 to 90 minutes, while others have no back up and “we have to use UMBO (balloon for artificial breathing) to save a patients’ lives” when the electricity is suspended. The doctor further said there are generators in the hospitals but not all operation theatres and wards are connected to it and hence patients have to suffer. Another doctor, who is a boarder too, said, “The hospital administration has turned a blind eye to the plight of patients and doctors it seems as it did not happen for a few hours but for two days.”
The same plight was related to the scribe by nurses and scores of male and female doctors residing in hostels of Allama Iqbal Medical College (AIMC). However, talking to Pakistan Today, SDO Faisal Town said the hospital administration demanded supply from Allama Iqbal Town Grid also because when the main supply is off the electricity is shut in both feeders. “The electricity supply remains suspended only when the main supply is off and that too for not more than an hour…I personally visited the hospital on Wednesday and held a meeting with a deputy medical superintendent…we have asked them to submit a demand notice for supply from another grid which will be done soon to resolve the issue,” the SDO added.
Jinnah Hospital MS Dr Afzal Shaheen however said the issue has been taken up with the chief executive LESCO to issue supply from two grids. “He will now give us the estimate and then we will submit the demand notice and deposit the said amount to get the supply…issue will not be resolved even in a week or so…the problem becomes worse during Monsoon…even the board of management has expired in 2010 and now we have no forum to take up issues facing the hospital,” he said.