According to doctors, two operations had to be postponed and the treatment of numerous patients was delayed because electronic equipment had been rendered unusable. Zulfiqar, an elderly man whose son had been injured in an accident, said that they had to wait for hours to get some x-rays done because the machine needed power to operate. A woman who was scheduled to be treated for a tumour complained that there had been no electricity since that morning and even the fans were not working. Attendants and some patients ended up going outside for some respite, but those in serious conditions remained in the rooms, she said.

“At around 11 am, the power started fluctuating while we were operating on a cancer patient”, one doctor said. “The ventilator and anesthesia equipment turned off. We were forced to manage everything manually, and completed the operation with the aid of cell phone torches as it would be dangerous for the patient to stop midway”. For at least an hour, power kept fluctuating and there was no back-up, he said, adding, “Thankfully, no causalities were caused.” Polyclinic Executive Director Dr Iftikhar Naro said the breakdown of a transformer due to short-circuiting led three others to fail. “The 300 kva generator then overheated. The other generators remained fully operational, and there was no pause in supply of electricity to intensive care units” he maintained, while claiming, “We also managed to supply power to the operation theaters”. Public works, IESCO, and our administrative staff are working to restore power, he said.

Source:http://tribune.com.pk/