In Chuadanga, doctors at the Sadar Hospital’s emergency department had to provide treatment by mobile-phone torchlight after power was cut during a storm. The scene was seen at the hospital around 8pm on Thursday (4 June), raising questions about the quality of emergency healthcare and hospital management. Power supply to Chuadanga town and surrounding areas was cut after a storm that began around 6:30pm.
Shortly afterward, people injured by lightning at Nandabar in Alamdanga and in a road accident in the Ghoramara Bridge area were brought to the emergency department. The new building was found plunged entirely in darkness; the generator was running in the old building, but power was not restored in the new building for about an hour. Even after the generator was later started in the new building, the emergency room was not adequately lit, and doctors were seen using mobile-phone torchlight to treat cut and injured patients — at least four patients were given stitches and primary treatment by torchlight.
Patients and relatives complained that such a situation in a district sadar hospital’s emergency department was extremely disappointing, expressing anger over the hospital’s preparedness and generator management for an ordinary disruption like a power cut. Chuadanga Sadar Hospital superintendent Dr Bidyut Kumar was contacted several times on his mobile phone but did not answer, so no comment on the mismanagement and the emergency department’s power crisis could be obtained. The incident has created public anger, and conscious circles have demanded that the hospital’s emergency power supply and generator management be made more effective and accountable to avoid such situations in future.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report