HYDERABAD: Scores of newborn babies and their mothers had a harrowing time when a power transformer at the Government Maternity Hospital at Koti here went kaput on Tuesday. Worse, there were no generators. Though the labour room has power back-up facility, it took about an hour for it to be made functional.
Even six hours after the transformer had got burnt, the staff of the electricity department could not fix it. “The transformer was burnt at 3.40 pm. By the time we lodged a complaint, the electricity department staff had left the office for their homes. It became dark by the time the department’s staff started attending to the problem,” said B Aruna, superintendent of the hospital.
She said they were provided with generators only for the labour room and the operation theatre. However, an official from electricity department said they initiated the work right after they received the complaint. On the contrary, he blamed the hospital authorities for lack of initiative from their side.