Three-hour power outage at hospital triggers concerns

A three-hour-long power cut at the National Institute of TB and Respiratory Diseases, a leading central TB hospital in Delhi, on Thursday triggered public concerns after images of a senior resident doctor manually ventilating a TB patient went viral on social media.

The post on X claimed that a three-hour power outage at the hospital left ventilated patients at risk with no power backup. The photo that was circulated along with the post showed a senior resident at the hospital using an AMBU bag to ventilate a TB patient. The Tribune identified the doctor as Abhishek.

A field investigation by The Tribune into this matter of public concern left more questions than answers.

Speaking to this correspondent, Dr Sanjay Gupta, Chief Medical Officer of the hospital, admitted to the power cut, but claimed that the backup system was activated within minutes.

“There was a three-hour power cut through BSES, but we switched to backup and restored supply within 5-7 minutes,” he said.

When contacted, the BSES told The Tribune that the electricity supply to the hospital from the discom’s end was normal.

“The hospital is a High Tension (HT) consumer of the discom. This means that power is supplied at a single point. The internal distribution network within the premises is managed by the hospital itself. It is possible there was an internal network disruption at the consumer’s end. The BSES remains committed to ensuring reliable and uninterrupted power supply to all its consumers, especially those providing essential services,” a BSES spokesperson said.

Dr Abhishek, who was seen in the viral image manually ventilating a patient at the hospital, said: “There were around 13-14 patients in the emergency ward when the power went out. We are trained to provide manual ventilation in such cases and we did exactly what we were supposed to do.”

Dr Upasana, director at the hospital, while admitting to the power cut, called it a routine affair. “The picture was taken while the doctor was switching to the backup power. Unfortunately, it was circulated with a misleading message” she claimed.

The Tribune was, however, not permitted to meet the patients who were in the hospital emergency when the power went out on Wednesday.

On seeking permission to meet them in the emergency ward, the hospital director said: “All patients from yesterday afternoon must have been discharged by now.”

During a visit by The Tribune to the hospital on Thursday, the director was seen holding a closed-door meeting with junior and senior residents, with one senior resident saying that the discussion was around the source of the viral post.

Attempts to access the emergency ward went futile. During the first visit, the emergency in-charge refused to speak to this reporter. During the second attempt, the reporter was denied entry altogether.