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Havoc at CMCH as power supply cut for 3 hours

Staff Correspondent
The Chittagong Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) remained without electricity for more than three hours yesterday morning as the Power Development Board (PDB) suddenly snapped the supply, allegedly without any prior notice.
The abrupt action caught the entire CMCH administration and doctors by surprise, leading to
cancellation of scheduled operations. A stand-by electricity generator, however, kept the life-saving devices operating in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and carried out other emergency works.
According to sources, the PDB action, which came without any prior notice, allegedly caused the death of three patients kept in the ICU of the hospital. However, no doctors were available to confirm the allegation.
The PDB officials claimed that the hospital's electricity bills since January this year were not paid.
Health Secretary AFM Sarwar Kamal told this correspondent yesterday that all arrears due with all users under the health ministry worth Tk 22 crore up to December 2004 were paid. Following this "the finance ministry categorically said that it issued a notice to the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources asking it not to claim any further arrears from us," he informed.
The electricity bills were due with four different departments under the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources--the PDB, the Dhaka Electricity Supply Authority (Desa), the Dhaka Electricity Supply Company (Desco), and the Rural Electrification Board.
Terming the act as "quite illegal" Kamal said, "knowing it was a hospital they [the PDB authority] had not served CMCH with any prior notice about a possible power disruption."
The power was restored at the CMCH at about 12 noon after the health secretary communicated with the high officials of the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources.
When contacted, Executive Engineer of the PDB in Chittagong Helaluddin denied the alleg tion of not serving any prior notice to the CMCH.
"On the 5th of this month we sent a letter to the CMCH requesting them to pay the arrears worth Tk 52 lakh from January to April 2005," he said. "In fact, we served a second notice to the CMCH warning them about power disconnection."
Helaluddin said, "Since we did not receive any response from the CMCH authorities, I went ahead instructing my men to snap the power supply today [Wednesday] at the CMCH."
According to sources, power was restored on assurance that the CMCH would pay all arrears within next week.