BARGARH: Patients undergoing treatment at the community healthcare centre (CHC) in Bargarh town had a harrowing time following a four-hour power outage even as the generator ran out of fuel late on Friday evening. They were reportedly treated under torchlight and mobile flash light.
However, the incident came to the fore when videos of patients undergoing treatment under torchlight and mobile flashlight were shared on social media. From dressing injured patients to administering saline and blood to the patients, all were done under the torchlight. Similarly, infants in the hospital were suffering due to the intense heatwave.
While the long power outage drew the attention of the people, the patients and the attendants claimed that this has become a common scenario lately. An attendant who admitted his sister two days ago said, power failure is a regular affair. “On Friday evening it took them long to restore power as the generator had run out of fuel. However at other times also it takes them at least 15-20 minutes to start the generator. Fortunately, no critical patients were admitted at the time of the power outage,” he said.
Chief district medical officer (CDMO), Charubala Rath, said the fuel in the generator is usually maintained but due to some wrong communication, they ran out of fuel on the day. “As soon as the issue came to my notice, swift action was taken and power restored. I already had a meeting with the CHC head and directed him to take necessary measures to avoid such untoward incidents,” the CDMO added.