Patient Treated Under Mobile Phone Light At Bargarh Dist Hospital In Odisha

Bargarh: A critically ill patient was reportedly treated with the help of a mobile phone flashlight due to power outage at the district headquarters hospital (DHH) in Odisha’s Bargarh in a reflection of the shape of health care services in the state.

The incident, reported to have taken place on Tuesday night, sparked anger among people after a video of the scene went viral.

As per information, a patient with ventilator support required immediate attention. As there was a power outage, the doctors at the hospital had to provide treatment with the mobile phone flashlight. It was alleged that the hospital was under darkness for a few minutes.

Rajesh Bariha, son of the patient claimed that his father’s condition deteriorated when the oxygen supply was disrupted following power outage. He reportedly has breathing difficulty for nearly half an hour before nurses rushed in for immediate attention. They had to manually administer oxygen from a cylinder with the help of a mobile phone torch light.

Sources said the hospital does not have an automatic power generator. The problem persists for a long time when the man operating the generator happens to be away.

Dismissing the allegation, Medical Superintendent D K Dutta said that the diesel generator was switched on within a minute of power outage. The generator has to be manually started in the event of a power outage in the absence of an automatic system. This time around the generator was started within a minute.

It may be recalled that SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack was without power supply for nearly 24 hours in October last year, severely affecting healthcare services.