A major failure in the power backup system at District Civil Hospital led to chaos on Sunday late evening after both the main electricity supply and the hospital generators failed, leaving scores of patients, infants, attendants and medical staff without power for over four hours.
The prolonged power cut forced patients, attendants to fan themselves in sweltering conditions, while pregnant women, infants and critically ill patients faced anxious moments till power was restored after the intervention of the Deputy Commissioner Dr Anand Kumar Sharma and Karnal MLA Jagmohan Anand.
Pregnant women admitted to the maternity ward, along with newborn babies, were among those worst affected, with many remaining without adequate cooling for hours. The incident has raised questions over the reliability of emergency infrastructure at the District Hospital.
Meanwhile, a snake bite case and a pregnant woman were referred to other health services.
During a prolonged power-cut, patients expressed anger over the system. “There were infants, pregnant women along with other patients and attendants, who had been forced to either walk in open or fan themselves,” said Anil Kumar, an attendant.
Amit, another attendant, said that there was a hotline for the Civil Hospital, but a blackout of around four to five hours exposed the flaws in the system. “The power back was also non-functional,” he added.
Addressing the media on Monday, Civil Surgeon Dr Poonam Chaudhary explained that the disruption began around 4.30 pm on Sunday due to a technical fault in the electricity supply.
“There was a power back-up till 6.30pm. As soon as the power failed, we lodged a complaint with the electricity department. At around 7 pm, the hospital load was shifted to the generator. The generator developed a technical fault and also stopped functioning,” she said.
Dr Chaudhary said that the hospital currently has two generators—one installed in 2013 and another procured in 2020. A fresh generator of the capacity of 750 kv has been installed and it is yet to be operational. It is expected to be operational within this week.
“When we could not immediately restore the second generator, we shifted the supply to the older 2013 generator after carrying out necessary repairs. By around 9.30 pm, the electricity supply had been restored,” she added.
She maintained that such an incident had never occurred before. The hospital is connected to a dedicated power line. Initial disruption to a fault in the Power Corporation and expressed confidence that similar incidents would not recur once the new generator is commissioned.
She further said that the hospital administration remained fully functional throughout the emergency, with the Principal Medical Officer (PMO) Dr Sarita Bishoi and other senior doctors present on the premises to monitor the situation and ensure patient care.
Responding to concerns over critically ill patients, Dr Chaudhary clarified that only two patients had to be shifted during the power, and a delivery of pregnant woman was conducted. She said the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) continued to function on battery backup.