Patients suffocate as AC fails at KEM’s EMS ward

A dozen patients in the BMC-run KEM Hospital’s EMS (Emergency Medical Service) have complained that they find breathing to be difficult as the air conditioning in the department has not been working for two days. A part of the ceiling in the fully air-conditioned ward, which was connected to the central AC, had collapsed on Thursday.

The newly constructed EMS has four departments — Emergency Paediatric Room, Orthopaedic trauma care, Emergency Medicine Room and Emergency Surgery Room. The EMS ward is supposed to have infection-control practices that adhere to the standards prescribed by the World Health Organisation.

Anita Naik, 57, a patient, said, “ I was admitted here because I suffered from massive asthma attacks. But I am feeling suffocated now, as the AC has suddenly stopped working for the past two days.”

Sushant Singh, whose elderly mother has been admitted in the ward, said, “My mother is immobilised, she is admitted here after she fell down and fractured her hip bone... Due to this problem, she’s sweating. How are we supposed to deal with it if she contracts an infection ”

However, Dr Pravin Bangar, assistant medical officer of KEM Hospital, said, “We know there is a problem, we will sort it out. We won’t let patients suffer.”