Spoiled Blood: General Hospital blames KSEB

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Saturday’s incident, where 60 bottles of blood were spoiled owing to power failure, has put the General Hospital in the dock, but the hospital authorities are blaming the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) for the disaster. General Hospital superintendent Dr Faseelathu Beevi said a KSEB delay in allocating power connection to the new block housing the blood bank had resulted in the spoilage. ‘’We have made repeated request for a fresh power connection, but to no avail. The KSEB assured us on December 15, in the presence of MLA (K Muraleedharan), that a three-phase power connection would be sanctioned promptly. But this did not happen and they said a new transformer was required,’’ Dr Faseelathu Beevi said. The Superintendent said she has contacted her higher-ups as well as the top brass of the KSEB following the incident for a solution. Sixty bottles of blood were spoiled at the blood bank of the Thiruvananthapuram General Hospital on Saturday owing to power failure at 3 a.m. The blood bank and laboratory is situated on the top floor of the building and the casualty and OP rooms are on the ground floor.Acknowledging the need for uninterrupted power supply to the facility, the AIDS Control Society had donated a generator which would be automatically switched on in the event of power outage. A senior KSEB official, when contacted, said the KSEB has received an application from the General Hospital for a new power connection.