Power outage cripples Derabassi civil hospital; DC orders probe
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Mohali: In a harrowing episode that exposed the fragility of public healthcare infrastructure, Derabassi civil hospital was thrown into turmoil on Thursday afternoon after a sudden power outage left patients and staff grappling in the dark — both literally and figuratively.
With temperatures hovering around 42°C, the hospital's power grid buckled under pressure, triggering a blackout that paralyzed critical services. To make matters worse, the hospital's backup generator failed to kick in, leaving emergency rooms, operation theatres, and patient wards without electricity.
"It was like being trapped in an oven," said one distraught attendant. "There were no fans, no lights—just darkness and heat."
While hospital officials downplayed the incident, claiming the outage lasted only 25 minutes, eyewitnesses and patient families insisted the blackout stretched close to two hours.
A system under siege
Senior medical officer Dr Dharmender Singh acknowledged the failure, attributing it to an overloaded grid and a tripped generator. "The heatwave has pushed our systems to the brink," he said. The outage couldn't have come at a worse time.
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With the hospital already stretched thin due to rising heat-related illnesses, the blackout disrupted emergency care and left vulnerable patients in distress.
Probe ordered, accountability demanded
Taking swift action, Mohali deputy commissioner Komal Mittal ordered an immediate probe into the incident. "This kind of failure in a medical facility is unacceptable," she said. "I've directed the civil surgeon to conduct a thorough investigation and submit a detailed report."
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