Frequent power outages are causing patients to suffer at Barisal General Hospital and Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital (SBMCH), disrupting treatment and making it difficult to keep operating theatres and critical care units running.
Patients at the hospital face three to four hours of load shedding a day, according to hospital authorities and patients’ relatives.
The department operates from a five-storey building where about 400 patients are admitted on average each day, accompanied by more than 500 relatives, hospital officials said.
When electricity fails, ceiling fans stop working and the crowded wards quickly become difficult to tolerate, particularly for patients suffering from breathing difficulties and other serious illnesses.
“Because of the large number of patients and relatives, it is already very hot inside,” said Abdul Qayum, who has been staying at the hospital with his daughter for seven days. “When the power goes out repeatedly, it feels like we are being boiled.”
Qayum said he bought a rechargeable fan and brought two hand fans to keep his daughter comfortable.
Hospital Director Brigadier General A.K.M. Mashiul Munir said the Medicine Department is served by a single electricity line, unlike the main hospital building, which has two lines and experiences little load-shedding.
“We have requested the Public Works Department to supply 100 litres of fuel every day,” Munir said. But the department has told hospital authorities that there is no government allocation for generator fuel.
The hospital has repeatedly appealed to the ministry for funding, he said.
“The generator is ready, and if we receive fuel, we will be able to provide backup power and reduce the patients’ suffering,” Munir said.
He could not say when the fuel would be available.
Md Faisal Alam, executive engineer at the Barisal Public Works Department, confirmed that the ministry does not currently allocate funds for fuel to operate the hospital generator.
“We have applied for an allocation. Once the allocation is received, fuel will be supplied through a contractor,” Alam said.
He also could not provide a timeframe for the funding.
Power outages are a particular concern in the hospital’s intensive care unit, where staff must closely monitor critically ill patients whenever electricity fails.
“We become worried about the patients when the power goes out,” a nurse working in the ICU said. “As soon as load-shedding begins, we have to remain extra vigilant.”
Relatives often help by arranging rechargeable fans and other necessities during outages, nurses said.
Patients and their families also face practical difficulties beyond the heat. Rahima Begum, who is staying with her husband on the fifth floor, said power cuts disable the hospital’s lift, forcing her to use the stairs whenever she needs to collect food or medicine.
“We came here to make my husband better, but now we are becoming sick ourselves,” she said.
The Barisal electricity grid is supplying only 50 to 55 megawatts against demand of around 85 to 90 megawatts, according to officials at the grid control room.
Officials said the hospital’s main building is protected from regular load-shedding because it has two electricity connections. The Medicine Department building, with only one connection, is subjected to several hours of outages.
The shortage has exposed vulnerabilities in a hospital that serves hundreds of patients each day. Without fuel for its backup generator, a critical department is left without electricity for hours at a time.
For patients struggling with illness in extreme heat, the simplest of cooling devices have become essential: rechargeable fans and hand fans.
