In a major tragedy, 21 people have died in Gandhi Hospital, Hyderabad on Friday. This was reported after the power supply in Gandhi Hospital was affected on July 22. Though it's not clear whether all the deaths were due to the blackout, but as per prima facie, few deaths could be due to power outage.
Some of the deaths on Friday were of patients who were on life support system, such as ventilators and incubators in the neo-natal ward in the hospital. In a shocker, one of the senior doctor's of hospital was quoted as saying that he had used his mobile phone torch to carry out an emergency surgery on a 28-year old man with an infected intestine.
Though ambu-bags providing hand-pressed oxygen was used on patients with ventilator support, reports have it that some of the attendants might have administered the gas incorrectly. This would be usually done by staff but it's left to attendants on Friday.
Following the reports of 21 deaths after power outage in Gandhi hospital, the Telangana Southern Power Distribution Company Chairman and Managing Director G Raghuma Reddy said that the internal problem in the electrical room in hospital is reason for the blackout.
Professor CV Chalam, the superintendent in charge of Gandhi Hospital, said that 21 deaths would have to be probed to determine if any of them was directly or indirectly linked to the power outage.
Run by the state government of Telangana, the hospital has 1200-beds for inpatients and hundreds of outpatients visit the hospital every day. So, let's hope the Telangana government would take strict measures so that such tragic incidents won't be repeated in future.