Outage 'forces' docs to use phone torch to stitch wound

After a power failure in the emergency wing of Government Civil Hospital here on Thursday, medical staff were forced to use a mobile phone’s torchlight to stitch a wound of an injured patient.

The incident occurred when 38-year-old Navtej Singh, who was injured in a road accident on the Moga-Ludhiana highway, was brought to the hospital’s minor operation theatre with serious head injuries, requiring immediate stitching of the wound.

Due to the outage, staff members were compelled to use the mobile phone torch to carry out the essential procedure.

Sukhpal Singh, the victim's brother, said his brother, who was an e-rickshaw driver, was hit by a speeding vehicle. He said the doctor and other staff used mobile phone light for the stitching for approximately 10 to 15 minutes because there was no power. The hospital’s inverter was also reportedly non-functional.

According to sources, the hospital had been experiencing frequent, intermittent power cuts since the morning, despite having a "hotline" connection.

Moga Civil Surgeon Dr Pardeep Kumar said the situation arose after the power supply was temporarily halted and there was a technical snag in the inverter. However, he maintained that power was resumed within minutes.

Hospital administration sources said they contacted the power board staff, who said the supply was temporarily stopped due to the ongoing line replacement work.