Blackout at CMCH,docs move with candles

Operations were put on hold and hospital staff had to use candles to find their way around the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital for over an hour on Tuesday...

Operations were put on hold and hospital staff had to use candles to find their way around the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital for over an hour on Tuesday after a CESC transformer caught fire and caused a blackout in four blocks of the hospital. The situation was compounded as the hospital did not have a back-up generator.

Hospital sources said the power supply got disrupted at 10.50 am when a transformer began emitting sparks.

We immediately informed the fire department. Two fire tenders were sent, a hospital staff member said. Sources said the transformer was routing power to four blocks,including the Green and Eden buildings of the hospital.

It was blackout in the emergency ward. The OPD stopped taking patients. Operations,especially in the cardio-thoracic and orthopaedic departments,were put on hold. The families of the patients understood that the fault was of the CESC, a doctor said.

Hospital staff said visibility inside the buildings was reduced to nearly zero. We scrambled to light candles to move around in the building, a nurse said.

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