THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Health Minister Veena George has called for a thorough investigation by a technical committee into the power outage at SAT Hospital on Sunday night. Strong action will be taken if any official is found at fault, she warned.
The initial investigation points fingers at the internal electrical wing. The PWD electrical wing successfully switched off the power supply from the generator and restored the direct supply by Monday morning.
The hospital authorities said that further maintenance work, including the replacement of contact switches on the panel board, will be carried out in a planned manner to avoid disruptions to the hospital functioning.
The hospital faced power outage after the connection from the main supply lines could not be restored after carrying out maintenance work.
It became a major issue after the power backup mechanism failed. The issue was resolved after a new power generator was brought in following protests.
While KSEB provides the high-tension supply, the PWD wing manages the electrical work at the hospital.
In light of the controversy, KSEB denied responsibility, citing the poor condition of the hospital’s electrical equipment as a contributing factor for the outage.
As a referral hospital for women and children, power outages lasting over three hours, along with subsequent protests, have become an embarrassment for the health department.
Thiruvananthapuram Deputy Mayor P K Raju described the incident as a serious oversight by the authorities.
On Monday, councillors from both the BJP and the Congress staged protests in response to the situation. The hospital has two generators while another generator supplied by HLL remains unused.
Power minister gives clean chit to KSEB
Electricity Minister K Krishnankutty on Monday reiterated that the KSEB was not at fault on the power outage that occurred at the SAT Hospital.
On Sunday night itself, the minister had given a clean chit to the KSEB. Minister’s office informed that they had done maintenance work at the SAT Hospital for two hours from 3:30pm onwards which was initiated after informing the hospital authorities.
A KSEB official told TNIE, “The equipment had rust on it which revealed a lack of periodic maintenance. The KSEB officials worked along with the electrical section of the PWD officials”.