Healthcare workers at a Primary Health Centre (PHC) in Chennur, Khammam, carried out a delivery using ‘charging lights’ on Monday night as the facility saw a power outage following windy weather.
While Health Minister T. Harish Rao congratulated the staff, including PHC medical officer Lavanya, the incident has raised questions on the availability of power backup during medical emergencies. Medical officers of all PHCs had earlier been asked to buy inverters to maintain cold-chain for COVID-19 vaccines.
Contacted for a response, Khammam DMHO B. Malathi said the inverter was available at the PHC in Chennur but the staff were focused on the delivery. “There was power supply when they started to perform delivery. But there was an interruption in power supply because of heavy winds. They were in the middle of the delivery, so they used torchlight to see through it. The mother and the newborn are safe,” said Dr Malathi.