Baby delivered under mobile lights in Narsipatnam hospital after power cut
At around 11 p.m on Wednesday, a woman from KD Peta went into labour while there was a power cut in the hospital. As there was no power backup in the hospital, her baby was delivered under cell phone lights.
By Sri Lakshmi Muttevi Published on 7 April 2022 10:19 AM GMT
Narsipatnam: The staff of NTR Government Hospital in Narsipatnam had to deliver a baby with the help of mobile phone lights following hours of power loss and generator failure.
At around 11 p.m on Wednesday, a woman from KD Peta went into labour while there was a power cut in the hospital. As there was no power backup in the hospital, her baby was delivered under cell phone lights. Following this incident, the medical and health officials and the electricity department are playing the blame game.
A video shows the hospital premises with no power and the staff working under torch lights.
According to the pregnant woman's mother, the nurse asked the attendants of the patients to get candles and lights for the delivery. "It has been almost two-three hours. There was no power and they delivered the baby under phone/torch lights. Which hospital delivers babies under cell phone lights? What if something happens to the baby?" questioned the woman holding the newborn.
The woman's husband said his wife had been suffering from labor pains since Monday afternoon when they brought her from KD Peta to the hospital. "The nurses gave her a tablet and started the treatment. At around midnight, the staff asked for candles. Where can we get candles at such an odd time? We had to use cell phone lights for the surgery," he said.
On the other side, the situation in the gynaecology ward was worse. The pregnant woman had to sleep under candlelight. Patients in the hospital said there have been regular power cuts for the past two days. "There are no basic facilities in the so-called hospital. The pregnant woman had to live with mosquitoes and with no air and lights. Since Monday evening, there has been no power," said an attendant at the Narsipatnam Government Hospital.
What the officials are saying
Speaking to NewsMeter, Ramesh Kishore, the head of the district coordinator of hospital services, Visakhapatnam, said, "There have been power cuts since the last two days, so the hospital was running on a generator. But after four-five hours, there was a technical glitch. Even on Thursday, there was a power cut and we had run on invertor for a while." However, he added that a technical team from Visakhapatnam was brought in for repair works.
