14 patients die in Chennai hospital due to power failure

Fourteen patients admitted in an intensive care unit of a private hospital near here died due to power failure following floods, a top official said on Friday.

Prithivi Mohandas, managing director, MIOT Hospital told reporters that lights and equipment did not work and everything has to be done manually.

Power supply has been cut off in flood-affected areas in Chennai and the neighbourhood.

Flood waters broke the hospital compound wall and damaged the generator.

"Yesterday night, we received 14 bodies from the MIOT Hospital. The post-mortem is on," a doctor at the Government Hospital at Royapettah here told IANS. He said the cause of death was yet to be known.

According to him, 23 patients have been brought to it from other hospitals in flood affected areas.

He said the hospital has received 46 bodies since Thursday morning.

The heaviest rains in a century and the resultant floods have left at least 269 people dead in Tamil Nadu.