CMOH takes up power failure incident at OT

MALDA, 16 DEC: The chief medical officer of health in Malda, Dr Srikanta Roy, today asked the district hospital authorities to identify the staff who did not inform about an electric fault at the operation theatre and labour room during an emergency situation today. As a result alternative power supply could not be arranged and patients had to face a lot of difficulty.The "minor" electric fault remaines unattended for over 24 hours when the hospital OT was left in complere darkness. The matter was taken seriously when the Malda Zilla Parishad sabhadhipati, Mrs Sabina Yeasmin, came to know that two baby girls were born in the hospital and due to the electric fault, doctors had to carry on the operation lighting candles and torches.“I was shocked to hear the incident. There was a simple electrical fault in the building bu nobody informed the authorities so that alternative arrangements could be made at the OT and labour room,” Dr Roy said today.The electric fault remained unattended for over 24 hours. Hospital authorities could not supply power to a single part of the bhospital uilding, where the OT was located, through generators as it was a minor power failure and not a usual power cut. "In case of load-shedding, we use generators to supply power to the emergency departments in the district hospital, but the electric fault could not be fixed by using generators,” the CMOH said. “We need thorough inquiry into the matter to find out if there was any sabotage behind the incident to defame hospital authorities,” he added.A section of hospital staff were reportedly unhappy with the new hospital superintendent, Dr Asok Biswas, who had started monitoring activities of a section of staff strictly curbing their vested interests. The incident took place in absence of Dr Biswas when another doctor was in-charge of district hospital.“We can not take action against any staff as we do not have the right to suspend them. We can only issue showc-ause notice to them,” Dr Srikanta Roy, the CMOH, said. ;SNS