The Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC) was hit with a five-hour electricity outage yesterday after an electrical breaker was burnt, accelerating plans to equip the hospital with more backup power.
The outage resulted in some services being disrupted for most of the morning period, into early afternoon. Power was restored to the building sometime around 1 pm yesterday.
Stabroek News was informed that an alarm was raised after persons saw smoke wafting from a room with electrical components.
Junior Public Health Minister, Dr. Karen Cummings, visited the institution after learning of the power outage and assured that all services are back up and running.
“There was no loss of life or limb during the process. I am very satisfied with the systems the hospital had put in place during the power outage,” she said.
Labeling the incident as a learning curve, she said, “We want to ensure we now have SOPs and protocols established so it would make it easier for us [if there is a reoccurrence]. In terms of infrastructure, we are looking to put in backup power systems in case of such reoccurrence.”
Chief Executive Officer of the hospital, George Lewis, told Stabroek News that at around 8 am yesterday, one of the electrical breakers that controls the AC/DC building was burnt, resulting in the power outage within the building.
The power outage affected the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit, Cardiac Intensive Care Unit, Accident and Emergency Department, Burns Unit, Radiology unit, Laboratory, Pharmacy, the recovery department and specialist clinics.
Lewis explained to this newspaper that while all departments in the building were affected, machines and equipment that are used to provide vital services to patients were hooked up to the backup power supplies.
“There are number of areas in this building that have UPS backup systems, inclusive of the theatre. We have these backup systems designed to kick in if our power supply from GPL or generator fails…these backup systems are designed to run for four hours,” he said, explaining that the supplies were put to work.
Lewis noted that a challenge they faced was inadequate lighting and the clinics were the most affected. He indicated that the Accident and Emergency department, along with others, were equipped with emergency lighting, allowing staff to carry out some of their duties.
“The main area we had challenges was the clinic area, where we had patients awaiting services. We spoke with the patients and explained the situation and asked them to be patient,” Lewis said and noted that few patients opted to leave and return at a later date.
He confirmed that the laboratory service was disrupted for a short time but quickly
pointed out that alternative arrangements for x-ray services and CT scans were made with the cancer institute, which is also located in the compound.
“The ventilators and other equipment in the ICU were hooked up to the battery backups and the equipment used for patient care was not disrupted,” he stressed.
At the hospital yesterday, many patients waited to be tended to and while they pointed out that they were able to engage with their doctors, patients stressed over the hot air circulating at the hospital during the power outage due to the air conditioning units being off.
Stabroek News visited the hospital sometime around 10 am and observed electricians working to fix the issue at the main panel. Medical staff were also seen using their phones to light hallways and look for patient information forms.
A patient who was waiting at the cardiology department said that around 8 am she was in another section waiting on a test that required electricity when the power went off. She said subsequently, a nurse came and informed the doctor about a fire. She stated that no test could be carried out and that the patients would have to return another day. The nurse said too that the repairs would have taken about four hours to complete.
Another woman said that she arrived at the hospital shortly after 8 am. She said a nurse informed them of the power outage and related that they would be able to engage with their doctors but were asked to be patient since the power outage had affected the delivery of service. She explained that sometime after, she was able to meet with her doctor and her needs were tended to.
At the Intensive Care Unit, families of patients panicked for some time after learning of the power cut to the building.
“We were all panicking because we were afraid of what was going to happen. I was worried for my mom, she is on the ventilator. But the nurses came out and told us that everything was okay and that the machines were working,” a relative of an ICU patient said.
She explained that while the news from the nurse gave them some comfort, they remained concerned.
Describing what would have happened if they were unable to rectify the electrical problem, the hospital CEO said, “If the loss of power had continued, we had already initiated an emergency response. We made arrangements with a private hospital so that the critical patients could have gone there.”
Meanwhile, Stabroek News was told the Guyana Fire Service responded as a precautionary measure and the hospital’s electricians were assisted by staff from GPL.
