6-hr Power Outage at BSMMU Hospital<\/em>
\nMedicare goes haywire<\/strong>\u00a0
\n<\/a>A six-hour blackout paralysed the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) yesterday, causing immense suffering to patients and doctors.
\nExcept for a few emergency services using generator, all pathological tests, scheduled operations and outdoor services remained snapped from 6:00am to 12:15pm when power supply resumed, hospital sources said.
\nThe power outage happened when the hospital’s main power cable got burnt following an electric short circuit, BSMMU Director Brig Gen Abdul Majid Bhuiyan said.
\nHe, however, said they did not face any major crisis. \u201cWe responded to the emergency cases using generator.\u201d
\nSoon after the power blackout, the hospital buildings wore a deserted look as many patients and their attendants and nurses and doctors walked out of their rooms to take shelter on the compound and the adjacent roads as it got unbearably hot inside.
\n\u201cIt’s intolerable. I cannot take it anymore, I need some air,\u201d said Minhaj Uddin, a neurosurgery patient, who was unable to move from his bed.
\nRelatives of the patients had to climb up and down the multi-storey building to get food, water and medicine, as the lifts were inoperative.
\n\u201cWe were out of water since morning. I had to climb down to the ground floor twice for water and medicine,\u201d said Billal Hossain, an attendant of a patient at Intensive Care Unit on the ninth floor.
\nPatients and their relatives waited in queues for pathological tests in vain. Some did not get their operation schedules as the required tests were not done.
\nEarlier in the morning, doctors tried to provide outdoor service by candlelight.
\n\u201cIt’s impossible to examine cancer patients by candlelight,\u201d said Fahmida Nazir, an outdoor medical officer. \u201cMany have come from outside Dhaka. They cannot travel every day.\u201d
\nThe outdoor of the hospital is near the parking lot. Many outdoor patients left without taking treatment.
\nWhen the power supply resumed in the afternoon, scores crowded at different points to get treatment.
\nThe BSMMU director said they are planning to add more generators to provide service in such situations.<\/p>\n

-With The Daily Star<\/span> input<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

6-hr Power Outage at BSMMU Hospital Medicare goes haywire\u00a0 A six-hour blackout paralysed the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) yesterday, causing immense suffering to patients and doctors. Except for a few emergency services using generator, all pathological tests, scheduled operations and outdoor services remained snapped from 6:00am to 12:15pm when power supply resumed, hospital … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,6748,199,6749,6747],"yoast_head":"\n