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Visakhapatnam: A major power outage at King George Hospital (KGH) on Thursday left several key wards in complete darkness for hours, disrupting patient care and creating distress among attendants and medical staff.The outage began around 1:45 p.m. when a critical power cable was accidentally damaged during ongoing construction work near the hospital’s critical care unit. Electricity supply was affected in the orthopaedic, paediatrics, women’s, Rajendra, and Bhavanagar wards, leaving patients without power, ventilation, or essential medical equipment.While emergency units such as the ICU, NICU, and CSR blocks operated on generator backup, other wards remained without electricity late into the night. Patients endured stifling heat and poor lighting, with even the water supply in washrooms reportedly disrupted.“We were told power would be restored in 30 minutes, but by 10:30 p.m., nothing had changed. The conditions are unbearable,” said a patient’s relative.Deputy superintendent Dr M. Chandra Sekhar Naidu told Deccan Chronicle that a major cable had been disconnected and that the technical team was working to restore power by around 2 a.m.Health Minister Satya Kumar Yadav said he had instructed officials to ensure immediate restoration. “Essential services are running on generators. Work is in progress to bring full power back,” he stated.KGH, one of Visakhapatnam’s key referral hospitals, has faced similar outages in the past. Patients in general wards have often resorted to hand fans and makeshift cooling during such power cuts, underscoring the hospital’s long-standing infrastructure challenges.As of 10:43 p.m., full power restoration had not been achieved.
