Gaibandha Sadar Modern Hospital is a renowned hospital in Gaibandha. Recently it was upgraded from a 100 to 250 bed facility to accommodate increasing demand.
Sixteen years ago, a high power generator was allocated to provide uninterrupted electricity supply to this hospital. But it has never been used for a single hour only because the fuel needed to run the machine was never allotted by the authorities.
Unused, generator parts are damaged and out of order while patients are using candles to light up their areas in frequent load shedding.
According to Gaibandha Sadar Hospital authorities, the Department of Health Engineering allocated the 40-KV generator for the hospital in 2003, at a cost of 7 lakh taka. A separate building was also made especially to accommodate the generator. At a total cost of around 15 lakh taka, the generator has been sitting idle with no authorised budget or skilled manpower to run it.
When asked about the generator, Assistant Engineer of Gaibandha Power Distribution Department, Shaharul Islam, said: "The 40 KV (kilowatt) generator can produce 32 KV of electricity. It will be possible to provide electricity to the entire hospital area. It can even meet electricity demand for a large industrial factory."
The purpose of setting up this generator was to ensure uninterrupted electricity 24/7 so that emergency surgery would not be affected by load shedding. But now the whole hospital is running on candles brought in by patients.
Hospital ward master Mokbul Hossain says that as the generator is practically abandoned, crooks tried to steal generator parts a few days ago.
Inspecting the hospital, patient suffering was clearly visible. Most of the patients lighted up candles in load shedding, which is very risky and costly for them.
Some patients under treatment, exasperated and exhausted about the matter, said their life now depends on candles at their expense.
Hospital patient Bilkis Begum said: "Some nights we stay in pitch dark if we are out of candles during frequent load shedding. We cannot use the bathroom or move. We came here for good medical treatment but the situation seems more risky and difficult.'
Dawood Mia, another hospital patient, said: "We are in this hospital now for seven days. We need to buy 5/6 candles each day. It's really costly for poor people like us."
A patient, Mili Khatun, said: "Here, accidents are a common fact in darkness, due to frequent load shedding."
Asked about alternative arrangements for electricity, Resident Medical Officer (RMO) of Gaibandha Sadar Modern Hospital, Shahinul Islam, said: "Two small private generators are being used, but only for the emergency department and the main gate of the hospital."
Caretaker of the Hospital, Mahfuzar Rahman, said: "As the generator from the Health Department has not been given a budget allocation for fuel oil to date, it is considered abandoned machinery here."