Three patients on life support die in Madurai Government Rajaji Hospital during power shutdown

MADURAI: Three patients who were on life support in an ICU in Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) in Madurai died on Tuesday evening, and their relatives alleged that the deaths were due to the ventilators not functioning during a power shutdown and a generator not working.
Hospital officials admitted that there was a power shutdown and also the generator was not working. However, they clarified that the ventilators had been “very much working” because they had battery backup.
Director of medical education Dr A Edwin Joe said, “All ventilators in government hospitals have built- in batteries that work for at least one hour after total power shutdown.
GRH dean Dr K Vanitha said the patients -- Malliga, 58, Palaniammal, 60, and Ravindran, 52 – had been in a critical condition. She said it was a “mere coincidence” that they had died during power shutdown.
She said the generator malfunction was due to a damage to one of its boards caused by lightning on Tuesday night. The dean said that she had ordered an internal probe and asked the respective staff and officials to submit a report.
(With inputs from Pushpa Narayan)