Hyderabad: A power cut in Gandhi hospital lasted more than five hours on Friday evening — severely affecting emergency services.
The hospital was lit by candles, mobile phones and torches. Officials from the Telangana State Southern Power Distribution Company Limited said the blackout was due to damage caused to the generator by hospital staff while it was switching into normal power mode shortly after a power maintenance shutdown.
Patients at the hospital faced a tough time and those in its maternity and surgical wards remained particularly affected by the blackout. Routine medical services at the hospital had almost come to a halt.
But hospital authorities said they had set up three generators to support emergency services. At the time of print (July 22, 11pm) the hospital was still without power.
According to sources with the power department, maintenance works at Chilkalguda sub station —from where a dedicated line is laid to the hospital — shut down the power supply from 5pm to 6.30pm.
During this time, the hospital was running on a generator. But after the power supply was restored at around 6.30pm, staff at the hospital managed to damage the generator — which was supposed to switch to the main supply. A single phase power supply was also damaged as a result of the generator fault.
