Bhubaneswar, Aug. 9: The Odisha government has decided to provide uninterrupted power supply to all government hospitals across the state.

In the first phase, the decision will be implemented in all the three government-run medical colleges, Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar and all the 30 district headquarters hospitals.

The decision comes in the wake of allegations that healthcare services are being disrupted frequently because of power failures. During the recent failure of the eastern grid on July 31, health services of premier government-run hospitals such as SCB in Cuttack and Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar were affected.

SCB does not have a dedicated power supply, though it is equipped with a round-the-clock power back-up system to run various emergency units, including the ICUs. However, several units, including different wards, faced problems during power cuts, said hospital superintendent D.N. Moharana.

Capital Hospital is connected with a 33KV line for uninterrupted power supply. However, hospital sources admitted that the ICU block had been without power for some time during the recent eastern grid failure.

Municipal Hospital, run by the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, does not have a 24X7 power supply facility. “We have submitted a proposal to the government to provide uninterrupted power supply,” said chief municipal medical officer Dinabandhu Sahoo.

Similarly, City Hospital in Cuttack does not have alternative power supply to its diarrhoea ward. “There is a proposal to install an inverter or supply power from the existing generator sets to the diarrhoea ward,” said chief district medical officer S.K. Das.

At a meeting chaired by chief secretary Bijay Patnaik today, it has been decided that the generator sets installed at hospitals would be converted to automatic modes, so that they would start automatically with the power failure.