Rajindra Hospital doctors perform C-section using mobile flashlight amid power cut

Patiala: Following a power outage at government-run Rajindra Hospital, Patiala, doctors and medical staff performed a Caesarean section under a mobile phone flashlight on Saturday night.  

As per an HT news report, the doctors and the staff were in the middle of the operation when the power cut happened around 8 pm on Saturday. According to the doctors, both the newborn and the woman are safe and doing well. 

Speaking about the matter, a senior doctor of the gynaecology department said, “It is a sad state of affairs. We can’t delay the surgery in emergency cases.”

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It emerged that after the power outage, backup generators were activated, but the generator responsible for supplying electricity to the hospital's mother and child wing failed to operate. 

Medical superintendent Dr Girish Sahni told HT, “All the emergency power generators were put to use after the outage. Only one generator, which supplies power to the mother and child wing could not be used as we had to refill the fuel – which took some time.”

Patiala deputy commissioner Showkat Parray said, "Due to the power outage, relatives of patients started protesting and did not allow the hospital staff to refill the fuel in the power generator. Police had to be called to refill the generator."

"We are facing power issues at the hospital and informed Punjab State Power Corporation Limited officials about it. We have our own 66KV power grid at the hospital for 24x7 power supply but there was some issue in the grid and power supply to the hospital was interrupted for three hours,” said Sahini.

Punjab Chief Secretary Anurag Verma said, “The government has taken cognisance of the power outage. The health minister, DC and CMD, PSPCL, will visit the hospital and look into the reasons for power failure and will decide on the remedial steps.”

Following their visit, a meeting was held on Sunday evening with Health Minister Dr Balbir Singh, PSPCL CMD Er Baldev Singh Saran, Director of Medical Education and Research Dr Avnish Kumar, Medical Superintendent Girish Sahni, and officials from the PWD Electrical Wing.

Dr Balbir Singh said, “There was a fault in the power line of the 66KV power grid of Rajindra Hospital. Since the power line is underground, it took 2-3 hours to fix it. To ensure that a similar situation doesn’t arise again, we will give an alternative supply line of 11KV for emergency services.”

As per Royal Patiala news report, Dr Singh also directed that sufficient extra diesel be kept on hand for emergency use in the hospital’s 20 generator sets. 

To identify and resolve any issues with the hospital's electricity supply, a joint team comprising officials from the PWD Electrical Wing and the Punjab State Power Corporation will be formed soon. 

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