: Gandhi Hospital’s electrical infrastructure failed it on a testing day last week, landing the tertiary care unit in the thick of allegations of negligence leading to deaths.
On July 22, the hospital lost supply around 1.30 p.m. after malfunctioning at Chilkalguda electrical substation, causing power supply disruption. The hospital was informed by TSSPDCL about the disruption and subsequently switched to its back-up generators for about an hour when the problem was being fixed. Power supply remained reliable for a few hours before the real problems began for the hospital.
“The fuses of an important transformer located within the hospital blew. Even after replacement by early evening, we were told that one of the phases is running on inadequate voltage. Surprisingly, the meter readings of the transformers showed all the phases were working optimally,” said a TSSPDCL source operating in the Chilkalguda area. When the hospital shifted to its back-up supply for a second time however, two of its 500 kvA generators failed to function and continued to trip.
For hours later, the problem remained un-detectable that evening and the electricity men decided to bypass the transformer to provide direct supply. However, those hours proved nightmarish for doctors and patients, mainly in the emergency wings. “From 7.30 p.m., onwards the emergency ward was in complete darkness. Treating patients was nightmarish as doctors had to use mobile phones, candles and light strobes of media men to insert IV lines,” a doctor recounted.
Anxious doctors at the Acute Medical Unit on Friday struggled to calm relatives of those fighting for life. The unit was among the worst hit as ventilators remained non-functional until restoration of power supply at about 10.15 p.m.
“Among those patients that absolutely needed ventilation was an elderly lady on whom mechanical ventilation was performed as she could not breathe. She died next morning as she was terminally ill,” said a hospital source.
When asked if any of the deaths can be attributed to power failure, Gandhi doctors say it is difficult to tell as most patients on ventilator are likely to succumb within hours of starting ventilation. Between 1.30 p.m. and 10.15 p.m. on that day, five deaths were recorded, the hospital’s administration has said.
The administration has denied allegations that power failure is to be blamed for the deaths on Friday and Saturday. It has maintained that number of deaths witnessed at the hospital during and after the power failure are not out of the ordinary for the institution. A probe has been instituted by the State’s Health Minister to determine if power failure is to be blamed.
However, the power distribution company has identified flaws in the electrical infrastructure. Switching panels and feeders from generators, which power officials claimed received little to no maintenance in the recent past, did not function adequately and thus could not take the load from the hospital’s equipment.
“The hospital’s electrical infrastructure is housed near its mortuary, where no employee is willing to work. One person tasked with the job of switching supply during outage does not sit there as the hospital has had consistent supply in the recent past,” said a power official.
The power distribution company has resolved to install a back-up power line from another nearby substation to prevent a repeat of Friday’s nightmare.
