Iranian state cuts power to three of capital's main
hospitals
TEHRAN, July 5 (AFP) - Iran's energy ministry cut off the power
supply to three of the capital's main hospitals, including a children's
hospital, Saturday for non-payment of bills, staff told AFP Monday.
The three hospitals were faced with "crisis situations"
after electricity cuts of between two and five hours, staff said.
"We faced serious problems here Saturday. Our electricity was
cut off for more than five hours and we did not have a generator ... we
were forced to cancel all our scheduled operations," an official at
Bahrami children's hospital told AFP.
The Sina hospital, with some 400 patients, was deprived of electricity
for close to two hours. "Our emergency department was in a mess,
with more and more emergency cases from within the hospital because of
the electricity cut," a hospital employee told AFP.
The director of the third hospital whose electricity was switched
off openly criticized the energy ministry.
"Due to difficulties in paying the electricity bill on time,
the energy ministry without consideration of the sensitivity of this kind
of facility, cut off our electricity during the busiest period of the day
for some three hours," the director of Amir Alam hospital told Etelaat
newspaper.
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