No electricity at Civil Hospital for over 24 hours

The largest teaching hospital in Sindh, Dr Ruth KM Pfau Civil Hospital, has been without electricity in most of its units since Tuesday.

The outage has affected functions of the operation theatre, orthopedic, medical, and surgical units since the past 24 hours.

To keep operations working, the hospital administration has been providing electricity to the patients through two 730-kilowatt generators in its premises. Per hospital officials, they have burnt approximately 1,500 liters of diesel, worth over Rs300,000 during the past 24 hours to keep the power going.

Civil Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Khalid Bukhari told The Express Tribune that one of the PMTs (Pole-Mounted Transformer) supplying electricity to the hospital has been faulty for a long time.

The PMT experiences technical issues daily, causing sudden breakdowns in critical areas of the hospital, putting patients' lives at risk during operations.

"Despite writing multiple letters to request the replacement of the PMT, our demands have not been addressed yet," he said.

Dr Bukhari added that one of the PMTs at Civil Hospital developed a fault, resulting in power outages in several units, including the operation theater.

However, electricity was being supplied through the hospital's generators, which consumed a significant amount of diesel and replacement of lubricants.

Dr Bukhari assured that patients and their attendants were receiving uninterrupted power supply.

He further stated that technical issues with the PMT cause sudden power outages in hospital units, necessitating the use of generators to supply electricity to patients. The hospital faces power breakdowns daily.