Patient treated under mobile torch light at DHH in Odisha’s Bargarh – N.F Times

Bargarh: Amid tall claims of technological advance in healthcare service delivery across the State, a critical patient was treated with the help of a mobile torch light due to power outage at the district headquarters hospital in Odisha’s Bargarh on Tuesday night. The incident sparked anger among people after a video of the incident went viral.

The patient, identified as Durbasa Bariha of Kanda village in Gaisilet block, had consumed poison and was rushed to the hospital in a critical state on Monday. He had been put on ventilator support by the doctors. However, his condition deteriorated and he had to be treated by doctors with help of a mobile torch light after oxygen supply was disrupted following a long power outage on Tuesday.

Durbasa’s son Rajesh Bariha alleged that his condition became serious when the oxygen supply was halted. He reportedly has breathing difficulty for nearly half an hour before nurses rushed in for immediate attention. However, as the automatic oxygen supply could not function in absence of power, they had to manually administer it through cylinder with the help of a mobile torch light.

A sanitation worker, who reportedly captured the footage, claimed that power outage and medical treatment in the dark are a routine affair in the hospital.

Sources said the hospital does not have an automatic power generator and whenever there is a power cut, patients are treated in the dark with make shift arrangements. Th situation lasts longer if the man operating the generator happens to be away.

Meanwhile, hospital superintendent DK Dutt dismissed allegations of a prolonged power cut and said the generator was started immediately. While he admitted that the hospital does not have an automatic generator and needs a diesel-powered generator, he said they do have an inverter back up in certain areas where critical patients are treated.