Grid failure: Hospitals fear service disruption in case of longer outage

Healthcare facilities in the capital city are now running on generators but services like intensive care units (ICUs), coronary care units (CCU) and operation theatre may be disrupted in case of a longer power outage.

Dhaka, Chattogram and Sylhet continue to remain in total blackout for over four hours since the power outage around 2pm following a failure in the national grid.

If there is no electricity for a long time, it will be difficult to continue all medical services of the hospitals, the hospital directors said.

Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College and Hospital Director Dr Khalilur Rahman told The Business Standard, "As we have three generators, we are now providing necessary health services to our patients and conducting regular surgeries."

"However, if it takes longer to restore the power supply, it will be difficult to run the hospital. The refuelling stations cannot supply diesel due to power outages," he added. 

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Hospital (BSMMU) is providing health services to patients at ICU on generators.

Dr AKM Habibullah, on duty doctor at BSMMU's ICU, told The Business Standard at 5pm, that there is no problem in the ICU as there is no electricity. But what will happen if there is no electricity for a long time is not yet assumed.

Brigadier General Md Nazmul Haque, director of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), said, "We are also running the hospital's activities on generators."

He said, "The largest government hospital in the country has an adequate generator system so there is no problem in running its medical services."