Hyderabad: Telangana health minister C Damodar Raja Narsimha has instructed the managing director of Telangana Medical Services and infrastructure development corporation, to deploy his engineers for inspection of all government hospitals across the state, to check the functionality of backup power systems, and repair or replace non-functioning generator systems, in view of the upcoming monsoon season.
Amid criticism from the opposition on the five-hour power-cut in MGM Hospital in Warangal on Tuesday, May 21, the minister has instructed the managing director of the corporation to submit an inquiry report within 24 hours on any lapses that may have caused the power-cut and to fix them.
On Wednesday, May 22, BRS working president KT Rama Rao posted a news report on the power cut at MGM Hospital from 4.30 pm to 9.30 pm, which endangered the lives of patients in the ICU.
“The Congress government can’t even maintain existing hospitals, let alone build world-class infrastructure. The CM & his ministers keep repeating that there are no power cuts. Who will take responsibility for this,” he questioned on X.
It can be recalled that in March 2021, a Covid-19 patient named Gandhi died in the Covid-19 ward at the same hospital, when the ventilator on which he was breathing, had stopped functioning due to a prolonged power cut.
The medical and health department has issued a rejoinder on Tuesday’s power cut stating that the backup generators at the hospital have ensured uninterrupted power supply to the patient care areas, including the emergency areas during the power-cut, and that the patients in the dialysis wing continued their dialysis treatment through battery back-up.
“By 9 pm, full supply to MGM Hospital through repair of HT lines and defective breakers was resolved by the NPDCL engineering wing,” the department stated.
On Wednesday, the minister reviewed the situation with the secretary of health, medical and family welfare and the director of medical education, to prepare for such exigencies and to avoid such untoward incidents in the future.
