GPHC recovering from water, electricity outages

Last Updated on Saturday, 26 December 2015, 21:00 by GxMedia

Several surgeries were postponed and a number of patients were sponged because of a disruption in water supply at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation due to power surge, hospital sources said.

“A few surgeries were cancelled as a result of the unavailability of water in the operating theatres,” the GPHC said in a statement.

The usually reliable sources confirmed that five eye surgeries and two general surgeries that were scheduled for Monday and Tuesday were pushed back.

The disruptions occurred about 9 AM Monday when a power surge caused a high voltage cable to spark and split as well as damage a water pump

Although water supply has been restored, it is discoloured because very low level of water from the reservoir was being distributed. The hospital sources said the reservoir could not have been replenished when water supply resumed on Tuesday about 3 PM because a foot pump developed problems. “Today we are getting some brown water because the reservoir was empty over the course of last night… We are drawing form the bottom,” the official said.

The laundry had also suspended washing but later resumed operations with the discoloured water.

Asked how in-patients managed, the official said several of them were sponged by nurses and relatives.

The GPHC, in its statement, said that in order to continue repairs to the Foot Valve, water supply was expected to be shut down for approximately one hour between 4:15 PM and 5:15 PM Tuesday.