Probe ordered into prolonged blackout at Mapusa hospital

PANAJI
Health Minister Vishwajit Rane has ordered a detailed inquiry into the nearly four-hour power outage at the North Goa District Hospital in Mapusa, reported on Monday, even as Power Minister Sudin Dhavalikar attributed the disruption to a grid failure that affected large parts of North Goa.
Speaking to media persons on Wednesday, Rane described the prolonged blackout at the district hospital as a matter of serious concern and said that directions have been issued to the Health Secretary to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the incident, including the functioning of backup power systems and the emergency response activated during the outage.
The power disruption on Monday evening reportedly lasted close to four hours, leaving patients, attendants and hospital staff grappling with difficult conditions amid soaring temperatures.
 “A power outage lasting several hours at a healthcare facility is a matter of serious concern, particularly when critically ill patients and those dependent on ventilator support could be at risk. Accountability must be fixed wherever lapses are identified, and all necessary measures must be taken to ensure such an incident is never repeated. Patient safety and uninterrupted healthcare services cannot be compromised,” Rane said.
The Health Minister said the investigation would also determine whether the hospital's existing contingency arrangements were adequate to deal with such emergencies.
Meanwhile, Power Minister Dhavalikar said the outage was triggered by a failure in the central power grid, stressing that Goa is entirely dependent on electricity supplied through the national grid.
“Since we do not generate our own power, we depend on the central grid for electricity supply from States like Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. There was a grid issue, and power supply across North Goa, including the North Goa District Hospital, was affected,” Dhavalikar said.
The Power Minister further revealed that one of the State's major substations at Amona has been facing persistent problems. He said a transformer at the substation had earlier burnt out and was subsequently replaced, but the new transformer too developed faults, aggravating the power crisis in the region.
“One of our major substations at Amona suffers the most. The transformer had burnt out. It was replaced with a new one, but that too turned out to be faulty, resulting in a major crisis,” he said.