Treatment in mobile torch light:Ujjain District Hospital CMHO says, ‘What can I do, my office was also dark’

The ground reality of the state’s health services was witnessed on Friday at Ujjain District Hospital. When the electricity went out here, doctors had to treat patients in the light of mobile phone torches.
There was chaos in the emergency ward, while patients admitted in the wards and ICU were troubled by the heat and suffocation. A video of this went viral. When Bhaskar spoke to the CMHO after the video went viral, he said, “What can I do about this, there’s no electricity in my office either.” The incident occurred around 9 AM on Friday morning. Suddenly, the electricity in the entire hospital went out. Due to lack of proper ventilation and natural light in many rooms of the hospital, the rooms became dark. At that time, dressing of 2-3 patients was going on in the emergency.

Doctors and staff did dressing by lighting torches Doctors could neither leave the dressing midway nor could they ask patients to wait for dressing, as they also did not know when the electricity would return. Therefore, even after the power outage, doctors and staff continued treatment by lighting mobile phone torches. The hospital remained plunged in darkness for about half an hour. During this time, there was an atmosphere of panic among patients and their relatives. Patient’s relative said- condition could have worsened Patient’s relative Ishfaq Khan said that his nephew was admitted at night after the accident. He said that when I went downstairs in the morning, the power went out.
When I reached the ward, he was drenched in sweat and was panicking. If the power hadn’t come back quickly, the situation could have worsened. Shrinivas Sharma, who came from Unhel to show his son at the OPD, said that due to the heat, they had come to the hospital early in the morning. He said that he was sitting in the premises itself to see the doctor, when suddenly the power went out. The power didn’t come back for a long time. During this time, the fans also remained off, so we had to wait sitting under a tree with my son. Zahid Khan, who was admitted just a day earlier, said that he is admitted on the third floor of the hospital. The lift here often doesn’t work and many times stops in between. When the power suddenly went out, panic started setting in. I was having difficulty breathing, so I came down on my own. 500-bed hospital, OPD of more than 300 daily This district hospital in Ujjain is a major hospital with a capacity of 500 beds. Currently, due to the construction of the medical college, it has been shifted to Charak Hospital.
More than 300 patients are treated in the OPD here daily, but complaints regarding basic facilities have been continuously surfacing. However, despite this, no effective steps have been taken so far to address these complaints in the hospital. Lift broken, no backup system either The problem of power cuts in the hospital has become common. Along with this, the maintenance of the lift is also not being done properly. The lift often remains out of order. People complain, but there is no hearing. It is reported that due to a dispute between the contractor and hospital management, the condition of the lift is poor. When the power goes out, the backup system does not work, due to which people have been stuck in the lift several times. CMHO said- What can I do if the light goes out In the matter, Bhaskar spoke with Chief Medical and Health Officer (CMHO) Ashok Patel. He said that due to a fault in the DP, the power went out for about 20 minutes, after which the supply was restored. However, when he was repeatedly asked questions about the power outages and backup system, he said, Brother, if the light goes out, what can I do about it.