Connectivity: Lights out at THQ hospital promised power supply

A project to provide uninterrupted power supply is awaiting completion

SARGODHA: A project conceived for provision of uninterrupted power supply to Joharabad Tehsil Headquarters Hospital during summer has not been able to take off due to incomplete work on transmission lines.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Mehmood Ahmed Zuberi, Khushab president of the Pakistan Medical Association, said, “Funds had been allocated to connect the hospital to a new grid station so that there were no power outages there.”

“The current arrangement can only support 25 per cent of the hospital load, which means most of the building does not have electricity for at least six hours a day,” he said.

“Patients housed at its wards have been suffering as the administration cannot even provide power for fans in this heat,” he said.

He said this was also affecting the surgeries scheduled. “Sometimes there is a blackout in the emergency department and we lose to access X-Rays machines and other diagnostic facilities,” he said.

“It seems as if the hospital administration does not care about comfort of the people who come seeking medical attention at this hospital,” he said. “It appears that the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) is also indifferent to pressing issues at health facilities.”

He said the PMA would stage a protest demonstration in front of the DCO’s office if the matter was left unaddressed.

“We brought our son to the hospital after he fainted,” said Sajida Bibi, mother of Muzaffar, a 19-year-old admitted at the hospital. “Doctors told us that he was dehydrated and would be up on his feet in no time. But he is still lying exhausted. The conditions at the hospital are terrible. There is no ventilation and the rooms are crowded,” she said.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Additional Medical Superintendent Raja Ghani Masood said, “We have informed WAPDA authorities about the problem at the hospital several times but nothing has been done about it.”

A WAPDA spokesman said the project was near completion. “We are in the final phase of installing some gadgets after which the hospital will be connected to a new grid station.”

He said work would be completed within a week. “We are aware of the difficulties faced by the people at the hospital. We are working to resolve them as soon as possible.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 26^th, 2016.