Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 1: Patients and their attendants faced severe inconvenience at Government Hospital Sarwal today after a prolonged power outage disrupted essential healthcare services.
The electricity failure not only plunged several wards into darkness but also brought routine hospital functioning to a near standstill for several hours, causing distress among patients.
According to patients present at the hospital, the absence of electricity affected even basic services. Many complained that they were unable to obtain registration slips as printers were non-functional without power, leading to long queues and confusion at the registration counters. Several patients alleged that despite reaching the hospital early, they had to wait for hours without clarity on when services would resume.
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The outage also crippled diagnostic facilities, further compounding the difficulties. As per patients, ECG, X-Ray and Ultrasound services were completely unavailable during the power disruption, forcing some patients to postpone tests while others were compelled to seek diagnostic services at private centres.
Attendants expressed concern over the lack of alternative arrangements, stating that critical investigations are essential for timely diagnosis and treatment. The situation raised serious questions about preparedness and contingency planning at a major Government healthcare institution.
Clarifying the situation, Medical Superintendent of Sarwal Hospital, Dr Sunil Kailu, said that the power outage occurred due to a technical fault. “The problem occurred due to a rupture in the Hospital’s main electric supply line, possibly due to short-circuit,” he said.
Dr Kailu explained that services in the new hospital complex were not affected as the building is connected to an automatic inverter system. “All services in the new hospital complex were functional. However, services in the old hospital building were affected for about three to four hours as the generator set supplying backup power to the old block had been out of order for the last two to three days,” he added.
He further stated that power supply was restored within three to four hours and assured that corrective measures are being taken to avoid recurrence of such incidents.
Meanwhile, patients and attendants urged the Health Department to strengthen backup power infrastructure, particularly in older hospital buildings, warning that any disruption in essential services can put patients’ lives at risk.
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