Jaipur hospital power outage halts surgeries, blood bank operations

A power outage at Jaipur's Janana Hospital on Thursday disrupted surgeries, blood bank operations, and other essential services for nearly three hours. The outage was reportedly caused by a short circuit, affecting the 550-bed hospital's routine operations.

A power outage at Jaipur's Janana Hospital in Chandpole Bazar on Thursday disrupted surgeries, blood bank operations, and other essential services for nearly three hours, with hospital authorities saying backup power was prioritised for critical units while efforts were made to restore electricity.

The outage, reportedly caused by a short circuit, affected routine operations at the 550-bed hospital. A scheduled Caesarean section was postponed, while critical patients were shifted to another operation theatre. Blood bank operations, including blood sample processing and test reports, were also disrupted, causing inconvenience to patients. The prolonged outage also impacted laboratory services, the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and ventilator rooms.

The hospital administration, however, made alternative arrangements to ensure emergency services continued.

Hospital Administration Responds

Hospital Superintendent Dr Nupur Loria said the hospital had one fully functional operation theatre with a dedicated power line and backup system for emergencies. "We have one fully functional OT with a dedicated power line and backup system; it was set up this way from the start, so it remains operational during such issues... Power went out between 10:30 am and 10:45 am. It had come back briefly but cut out again due to fluctuations that sometimes happen while switching to the generator," she said.

Dr Loria said the administration immediately prioritised critical units after it became clear that restoration would take time. "The generator cannot handle the load of the entire 550-bed hospital; therefore, we prioritised the most critical areas for backup power -- the nursery, labour room, OT, NICU and blood bank. These are the vital points secured with backup support... As soon as the power went out and it became clear that the repair would take a long time, action was taken," she said.

Future Preventive Measures

On the cause of the outage, she said Public Works Department (PWD) officials would be able to provide the exact details. She added that steps had been taken to prevent such incidents in the future. "For the new building currently under construction, backup arrangements have been secured from three different sources. We have also laid a new power line here. Previously, our load capacity was 650 kVA, and while paperwork to increase it to 900 kVA was already underway, we have now directly raised the capacity to 1,500 kVA to ensure this issue does not happen again," Loria said.

Patients Recount Ordeal

Patients and their attendants said surgeries were delayed because of the outage. Meenu Sain, whose Caesarean section was scheduled, said, "It hasn't happened because there is no power. Others were being operated on first, and then the power went out." Asked how long the outage had lasted, she said, "It's been two hours."

Najma, whose daughter was awaiting surgery, said, "My daughter's operation was scheduled. The power has been out for two hours. Her turn hadn't come yet. Someone else's operation was ongoing. She was waiting, and then the power went out. Now they've taken her downstairs." (ANI)

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