Electrician on leave, 9 deliveries under candlelight in Dehradun hospital

DEHRADUN: In a shocking incident, as many as nine deliveries were conducted under candlelight and torches in Government Doon Medical College Hospital, the largest government hospital in Garhwal division which caters to people from several hilly districts, after power supply was disrupted for several hours on Tuesday night.
Hospital officials claimed that the electricity could not be resumed due to a technical glitch in the generator.The lone electrician who looks after the hospital was on leave. The power supply was disrupted at 8 o’clock on Tuesday night following heavy rain and only resumed on Wednesday morning at 10.30.
“At midnight I was told to take my wife to a private hospital as there was no electricity but she was already in labour. So we let them conduct the delivery in candlelight,” said Ravindra Singh, whose wife gave birth to a son on Wednesday morning.
Mamta, a resident of Rishikesh, who accompanied her sister, Manisha, to the delivery room, told TOI, “My sister had to undergo stitches after her delivery and this was done using light from a mobile phone.”
Manisha said that she was fortunate to have given birth to a healthy girl but anything could have gone wrong. “I came all the way from Ghansali in Tehri hoping for better care at this hospital. I did not expect this,” she said.
Another new mother, Sanju Gupta, said that she was taken aback when she was taken into the delivery room which was pitch dark.
Meenakshi Joshi, chief medical superintendent of the female wing of the hospital, said, “The inverter was not able to take the load and the electrician was not available. I have written to the authorities regarding the situation that the staff and the patients had to face.”
The hospital has often been in the limelight for its poor maternal and childcare provisions. Earlier, TOI had reported that a baby died in the hospital after the mother gave birth in the corridor. Another woman had delivered a baby near the washroom as she reportedly did not get a bed.
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