Surgery halted at Grey’s Hospital as broken aircon cripples theatres

Major surgery at Grey’s Hospital has been brought to a standstill after a failed air-conditioning system left operating theatres and intensive care units too hot for safe procedures, forcing doctors to postpone critical operations. Hospital insiders said only minor procedures lasting under an hour were continuing, as theatre temperatures climbed beyond acceptable safety standards. Medical staff warned that the heat increased infection risks and placed both patients and healthcare workers under severe strain, while long-awaited surgeries were repeatedly delayed.

Alarmed staff raised concerns with management, prompting the hospital’s CEO to issue a notice advising staff on how to cope while working in overheated theatres. The memorandum from the hospital, dated January 28 and seen byThe Witness, encourages surgical teams to operate at temperatures between 25°C and 27°C, higher than the standard 24°C normally required for safe theatre conditions. The communication serves to provide clinical guidance regarding the current operating theatre temperature, which ranges between 22,7°C and 26°C, following challenges with the HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) system.

For frontline workers, the guidance has done little to ease concerns. “We are forced to gamble with people’s lives,” said a nurse, speaking on condition of anonymity. “You turn patients away, and they suffer.

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You take the risk and operate, and they’re still compromised because infections can easily set in under these conditions. Patients’ wounds become septic. That’s not how it should be,” the nurse added.

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