Patients suffer as Bombay Hospital sees 24-hour power outage

Bombay Hospital and Medical Research Centre, perhaps Mumbai's biggest and busiest hospital, has been functioning without power for the last 24 hours. The Intensive Care Unit and operation theatres of the hospital are reported to be running on generators.

But there's little relief for the rest of the hospital as without electricity, and there is no water. Patients are of course the worst sufferers. They and their attendants had a harrowing time as there was no power for more than 24 hours. Electricity was cut off at around 11.30 am on Monday after a minor fire broke out in the electric sub-station on the hospital premises.

Lights were put off as a precautionary measure and to rectify the problem, officials said.

Engineers of the Bombay Electric Supply & Transport Undertaking (BEST), which supplies power to the hospital, are working to fix the problem at the power station. On Tuesday afternoon, electricity supply could be restored only partially. Officials said it would be restored fully by evening.

The hospital has stopped admitting new patients. Its operation theatres and intensive care units (ICUs) were running on generators. That caused delay in several surgeries.
Generators were exclusively being used to keep the lights and fans on in the ICUs. Most of the elevators in the multi-storey hospital buildings were not working, causing major problems to the patients, their attendants as well as the hospital staff.

Relatives of patients admitted in the hospital have been complaining that the hospital lacks even basic amenities. "They should have a disaster recovery plan. They don't even have an additional generator," said a relative of one of the patients.

"Patents are in great distress. They are getting infected," said another relative.