Patna, March 25: Thirty-six-year-old Parampara Sinha was undergoing a surgery for cholecystectomy (gall bladder removal). Suddenly, the power went off. The two surgeons were “in the dark” for about 10 minutes, till the generator started delivering power.
The March 15 incident did not occur at a remote primary health centre. It was actually a shocker in the heart of the state capital, at the state’s premier health institute — Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH).
The electrical devices here lack proper connection with uninterrupted power supply (UPS) system, which causes painful delays in surgeries in the hospital every day.
Sources said the state government pumped in crores of rupees every month for the maintenance and functioning of PMCH but the hospital presents a poor picture even on basics.
Most of the surgeries are completely dependent on power not only because of illumination needs, but also because the equipment and devices used during operations run on power, sources said.
“Surgeries have to be stopped for several minutes often because of lack of a power back-up, as generators take time to start every time there is a loadshedding. This is also a reality in Indira Gandhi Critical Care unit, or the emergency ward, where critically ill patients are treated and operated upon. The hospital administration has failed to come up with a solution despite repeated reminders by doctors,” a junior doctor at the emergency ward told The Telegraph.
“While specialised surgeries are carried out in respective wards like paediatric, gastroenterology, gynaecology and orthopaedic, critically ill patients are treated in the emergency ward where there are two operation theatres. Similarly, routine surgeries are conducted in Rajendra Surgical Ward. The ward is very advanced with new-age equipment and UPS system is also in place. But it is never used because of negligence in handling it. The same is true in many other wards where the devices are not used or are lying defunct. This is a gross negligence on the part of the hospital administration,” a senior surgeon at Rajendra Surgical Ward said.
The doctors said a delay of a few minutes might not prove to be too critical for patients but it could lead to some minor infections or bruises to vital organs if the doctors continue the operation under dim light. While most of the UPS devices lie unused because of the negligence of handlers, some of them are out of order.
Several medics complained that those responsible for the maintenance do not keep the UPS charged. Nor do they take the pain to connect them to required electrical devices.
“Gap analysis and recommendations”, a recent report on the PMCH premises by National Health Systems Resource Centre, highlighted the power issues, especially lack of UPS facility, which was proving to be a major hurdle for the doctors conducting surgeries at the state’s apex health centre.
State health minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey said the required facilities were in place.
“This issue had not been brought to my notice earlier. As far as I know, all the wards of the hospital have full power back-up. If there are complaints regarding the functioning of UPS, I will look into the matter,” he told The Telegraph.
