Bowring hospital functioning without electricity

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Bowring Hospital on Lady Curzon Road in Shivaji Nagar here has been experiencing a power cut for the past two days causing much inconvenience to patients and the hospital staff.

Being one of the prominent government hospitals in the city, the footfall at the hospital is significantly high. Many pregnant women depend on the hospital for their medical needs, putting them in grave danger due to protracted power cuts. A mother and her newborn baby had to be shifted to the Vani Vilas hospital recently due to a power cut at the hospital.

Sources at the hospital blamed the situation on the hospital's snapped power supply lines, a line of action generally being adopted by Bescom, the city's power suppliers, for non-payment of power charges. On Thursday, Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM) served notices to a handful of prestigious government hospitals over their alleged failure to clear pending electricity dues.

“BESCOM has cooperated with the hospitals on several occasions in the past as they are government-run and involve the lives of many patients, and because they may have a paucity of funds,” the electricity supplier said adding that it had warned the hospitals of disconnecting supply without any further prior notice. One of the hospitals, Jayanagar General has pending dues worth over Rs 24 lakh.

“We have been unable to clear the bills due to lack of funds. They will be cleared by the end of the month, as soon as we receive a response from the health department. We have requested a grant of Rs 40 lakh,” the Medical Superintendent of Jayanagar Public Hospital, Ramakrishna, had said.