HC terms power outage at Patiala hospital ‘shocking’; seeks report from chief secy
Punjab and Haryana High Court calls January 24 power failure at Rajindra hospital "shocking," demands report on automatic power backup systems in hospitals.
The Punjab and Haryana high court has termed January 24 incident of power failure at Rajindra hospital in Patiala “shocking” and sought a report from the chief secretary, Punjab about establishments equipped with automatic power back up system.
“It is not surprising but shocking to note that in a public establishment like a hospital where electric breakup of even a few seconds can be fatal for certain patients, especially those on life support, the electric supply was disrupted for 13 minutes though the backup was available but the same took 2 minutes to be functional, because the same had to be operated manually.
“In these modern times, it is of utmost importance that hospitals ought to have automatic switch-over from the normal electric supply line to DG-Set instantaneously,” the bench of chief justice Sheel Nagu and justice Sumeet Goel observed while taking note of report filed by the administration that on the fateful day the power outage was reported at 11.44 am and the power was eventually restored at 11.57 am after 13 minutes and the backup started functioning at 11.46 am manually.
In the report, the administration had stated that there is no automatic switch-over system and the switch-over from regular electric supply to the DG-set had to be made manually, which took time.
During the hearing, the state’s counsel was unable to satisfy the court as to why the deficiency of automatic switch-over from the regular supply lines to the DG-set was not available at the relevant point of time. On the other hand, the petitioner lawyer had stated that again on February 4 another incident of power disruption took place.
“The affidavit of the chief secretary of the state of Punjab is directed to be filed… should also contain details of other public establishments which are equipped with automatic switch-over and why not the hospitals,” the bench ordered while fixing the next date of hearing for February 25.
The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) highlighting the alleged incident of power tripping at the hospital during a cancer patient’s surgery on January 24. In the widely shared video, a doctor was purportedly seen expressing concerns about the frequent tripping and patient safety. The plea by advocate Sunaina, petitioner in person, demanding strict measures to ensure that all government and semi-government hospitals in Punjab have reliable power supply, especially for critical areas such as emergency operation theatres. The petitioner had also requested disciplinary action against the authorities concerned for failing to maintain the required standards at the hospital. Acting on the plea on January 28, the court had sought a report from the administration, which contained details about the non-availability of the auto power backup at the hospital.
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