Patients suffer for power outage

Emergency room patients at the National Institute of Traumatology & Orthopaedic Rehabilitation, popularly known as Pongu Hospital, have been suffering due to a power outage that began Sunday morning, reports bdnews24.com.

The power was only on for two hours between 8am and 3:22pm, said the hospital's emergency surgery room in-charge Senior Staff Nurse Shafiqul Islam.

He began his shift at 2pm and found there was no electricity, he told the news agency. His co-workers told him the power had been out since the morning.

Though the hospital has a generator, it cannot supply the necessary power, he said.

One doctor, on condition of anonymity, said that he had been working since 8am but had power available for only two hours. He performed operations on 10 patients during that time, but has been unable to do any more work due to the lack of power.

"There are several patients who need operations urgently, but we cannot perform them."

A man named Javed said that he had brought his brother for treatment from Narayanganj, but says a surgery has not been performed because the power is out.

Asked about the allegations Power Division Supervisor Farooq Ahmed said that it was true the power had been out for some time due to the storm, but claimed that there had been no complaints from the hospital.

Attempts were made to contact hospital Director Gani Molla, but he did not pick up any calls.