HYDERABAD, June 3: At least 20 telephone extension lines of the Civil Hospital, Hyderabad have been lying out of order for the last one month, causing great inconvenience to the patients as well as the hospital staff.

These wards and offices as a result remain cut off with other departments and offices.

The wards and offices of the Civil Hospital which have been affected include all the wards of the surgical department, the operation theatre, transport and statistics offices, x-ray room, maternity-3 urology, private ward, paediatrics surgery, medico-legal officer, RMO technical, AMS and telephone exchange supervisor.

The telephone exchange of the Civil Hospital had caught fire a month back, damaging the cords of telephone lines.

A single telephone cord operates 16 telephones.

At least 80 telephone extension lines are working in various wards of the Civil Hospital.

It was learnt that a company, Integrated Devices, had been paid Rs30,000 for the installation of new telephones but it has failed to do the job despite a lapse of three weeks.

In the absence of telephone lines, doctors, surgeons, administration officials and the nursing staff face many problems as they remain out of touch with the wards. Besides, it takes a lot of precious time for the nurses or ward-boys to convey any kind of message personally.