Theft at Feni General Hospital substation leaves new building without power for nearly 14 hours

Valuable parts of a transformer and a generator, along with copper wire, have been stolen from the electricity substation of the 250-bed Feni General Hospital. The theft took place at around 3 a.m. on Tuesday (27 October).

Because of the theft, power supply to the hospital's new building was disrupted for nearly 14 hours. Patients in the ICU, medicine, isolation and surgery wards, along with their relatives, suffered in the heat.

Late on Monday night (26 October), the intruders climbed over the hospital's rear wall, removed the substation's ventilation fan and got inside. They then stripped out parts of the transformer and generator and took away the copper wire. Repair work began on Tuesday morning after the theft came to light.

Without electricity, lights, fans and air-conditioning in the wards stopped working. This created a risk of disruption to the monitoring of critically ill patients, the operation of medical equipment and diagnostic tests.

Nasrin Sultana, who had come to the hospital's ultrasonography room for a test, said there was no power in the laboratory from 8 a.m. until about 11 a.m. Her test was delayed amid the heat, and she described a day of considerable hardship.

Maisha Akter, a patient admitted to the medicine ward, said there had been no electricity since 2:30 a.m. and that patients suffered greatly. In her words, the whole hospital seemed to turn into a haunted house, and they spent the night in fear in the darkness.

Habibur Rahman, the representative in charge of the substation, said the thieves took valuable parts of the transformer and the large generator and all of the copper wire. After being informed by the hospital authorities on Tuesday morning, his team began repairs. One of the two power lines was restored at around 11 a.m. and the other at around 5 p.m.

The hospital's ward master, Nurunnabi, said only one night guard is on duty at the entire hospital at night. As the substation is at the back of the hospital, nobody noticed the theft. A written complaint was filed at Feni Model Police Station on Tuesday afternoon.

The hospital's resident medical officer (RMO), Dr Roukon Ud Daula, said the thieves entered the substation by climbing the rear wall. Although the power went out at night, the matter only came to their attention in the morning, and patients suffered because of the long outage.

The RMO added that the substation had been burgled before as well. Despite one security guard being on duty at night, the theft happened again. After the incident, three Ansar members have been deployed in the substation area.

The hospital's superintendent, Dr Mobarak Hossain Dulal, said the thieves took all the copper wire. Thai glass, bathroom taps and various other fittings had also been stolen from the hospital building on earlier occasions, he said.

Md Anisul Haque, a sub-divisional engineer of the Feni Public Works Department, said that although the substation belongs to the Public Works Department, it is used by the hospital authorities, who are responsible for its security. He said the theft occurred because there was no guarding, and that assessment of the damage is under way.

Additional Superintendent of Police (Sadar Circle) Nishat Tabassum said the hospital authorities have lodged a complaint over the theft. Police are investigating the matter and efforts are under way to identify the thieves and recover the stolen property.