Double whammy for SAT hospital; Power goes out during dialysis

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Just hours after the blackout incident, another serious lapse grappled SAT Hospital on Monday. In a concerning incident, the power went off in the hospital at a time when the dialysis and plasma transfusion were going on. The incident happened around 2.15 pm on Monday.

The incident occurred while two patients were undergoing dialysis and one was undergoing plasma transfusion in Pediatric Nephrology. Due to this, the seven-hour-long plasma transplant had to be rescheduled. Dialysis resumed after the electricity was restored in the hospital. The concerned doctors raged in vehemence at the inept handling of basic necessities by officials in the hospital.

It was announced in the morning that there would be a power outage for half an hour for the work of fixing the fault of the generator and connecting it to the main line. The onus was on the PWD electrical department to inform the hospital authorities of the time decided to do the work. The doctors said they were not notified of the ongoing repair work.

The work required replacing the contactor of the faulty generator with the main line. This will ensure that the generator switches on automatically when there is an interruption in the mains power connection. The hospital authorities pointed out the continuing negligence of the PWD electrical department despite the outrage seen on Sunday over the three-hour-long power disruption.