Critical services at Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital  (CGTRH) were on Tuesday brought to a standstill after service provider Kenya Power reportedly disconnected supply at the region’s largest medical facility over unpaid bills.

The insitution’s Chief Executive Officer Dr Iqbal Khandwala confirmed the power cut saying his staff was forced to put on hold a number of critical services, before the power was restored shortly after 7pm on Tuesday. Khandwaala said the hospital’s power was disconnected on Tuesday morning prompting suspension of various operations at the facility including 15 scheduled surgeries, among them major ones like brain surgery, laparoscopic surgery and cancer surgery.

“The power was cut off today morning even while the theatre cases were going on. There were actually patients on the theatre table when power was cut off. As you are aware Coast General is a busy hospital. In the morning we were supposed to handle between 42 to 64 cases. In the middle of surgeries, power went off and oxygen supply switched off for a couple of minutes while the cases were going on. I received an alert from the theater,” said Khandwalla.

It, however, emerged that a simmering war between the county covernment and Kenya Power could have triggered the crisis, with either side pointing an accusing finger at the other.

Kenya Power Coast Regional manager Hicks Waswa, however, denied claims that the facility’s power supply had been disconnected.

Blame game

He instead shifted the blame on the county government which he accused of impounding their vehicles thereby affecting the  Kenya Power operations in Mombasa.

“We have not disconnected the power. We understand that line had a problem but the problem is that the county had impounded our vehicles after we disconnected power to Mombasa county offices due to over Sh100 million unpaid bill. To address a problem you must visit the site but you can’t move without a vehicle,” said Waswa in an interview with People Daily.

While condemning the incident,  Khandwala said it was wrong to risk lives in such a critical facility with about 700 bed capacity and which is relied upon by referrals from across the region.

“We have 60 babies currently in  the new-born unit all requiring oxygen. We have 30 patients in the Intensive Care Unit. Beyond the power we have ICU, Theater services, the maternity, the emergency caesarean section, the  new-born units all currently under generator,” said  Khandwallah in a press briefing at the hospital.

Restore power

While calling on Kenya Power to restore the supply immediately, Dr Khandwala said the hospital was staring at a catastrophe. “If you disconnect oxygen in the ICU, the theater services, the maternity, the emergency caesarean section, for even five minutes, you are going to be brain dead. So who is going to take responsibility…I don’t think we have a power bill that warrants disconnection. In the last one month we paid Sh18 million and we paid Sh2 million today, that’s Sh40 million”  he said. The hospital’s morgue was also affected and bodies had started decomposing.

“Morgue operates under 0⁰ to 5⁰ …anything above that with this Mombasa temperature the bodies will automatically decompose,” said a medical engineer at the facility. At the laundry section, there was an all-pervading stench as all laundry machines were not functioning meaning that all the theater and ward beddings and clothes remained unattended.

Members of the Mombasa County Assembly health committee chaired by Bernard Ogutu visited the facility and condemned the incident as inhumane.

“We condemn the act by Kenya Power to disconnect power at Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital. They have endangered the lives of patients.

We have tried talking to the regional manager but he is dilly-dallying. The hospital should be the last facility to have been disconnected,” said Ogutu.

Mjambere MCA Amriya Juma Boi said Kenya Power must reinstate power failure to which any life that will be lost as a result of this blackout “we shall hold Kenya power accountable.”

“We are giving a fair warning to Kenya Power because we understand that the county has a debt but we all know that the county has not been receiving its equitable revenue share,” said Boi.