Power outage kills 4 patients at JPMC

KARACHI: A heart-wrenching tragedy struck at Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Centre (JPMC) when four of its patients lost their lives as a result of power outage at the facility, Geo News reported Thursday.

JPMC which is one of the major government hospitals of Karachi had to remain without electricity for 14 hours. Four patients who were on life support in the facility's Intensive Care Unit (ICU) lost their lives when the ventilators being used to keep them alive went offline during the power outage.

Usually when there is a power breakdown, the hospital turns on its generators but this was not the case this time around. Hospital administration had not bought the diesel required to run the generators.

According to hospital administration there was an explosion at a sub-station on Monday night after which the electricity was shut. There was no money to buy the diesel because the hospital already owes the petrol station Rs1.6 million.

On the other hand the KESC has put the blame of the power breakdown solely on the hospital management. A spokesperson for the power provider said that the breakdown was a result of an internal problem at the hospital and that electricity was not even shut for a single hour.

Provincial health secretary Rizwan Ahmed has taken notice of the death of the four patients. While speaking with Geo News, Ahmed said an investigation would be conducted and expressed anger over the fact that the hospital administration had not informed his department about the power breakdown.