Blame Game: 21 deaths on a single day at Gandhi Hospital, staff blame power cut

Hyderabad:  Telangana’s state-run Gandhi Hospital  has come under scrutiny after a reported 21 patients died on Friday and the staff blamed power cuts for the deaths.

The patients who died on Friday were on life support system, such as incubators in the neo-natal ward and ventilators.

The Times of India reported:

Some doctors said the electricity first tripped around 3pm on Friday and then continued at regular intervals. Although there were four generators on standby, the hospital claimed they had developed snags and could not be used when the power lines were later cut off to find the cause of the tripping. The deaths occurred in specialty wards.

Hospital authorities blamed the works being undertaken by the TS Transco, which was done on Friday.

Speaking to TOI, Telangana health minister Dr C Laxma Reddy denied the allegations and said, “Tertiary care hospitals in the government sector such as Gandhi, tend to get maximum number of last-stage cases, some of which are referred by private hospitals and district-level government hospitals. So, a high mortality number on a day is not uncommon.”