Andhra woman gives birth under torch light as hospital sees 6-hour power cut

A government hospital in Andhra Pradesh’s newly formed Anakapalli district, doctors delivered a child in torch light owing to power outage of eight hours.

Amravati(Andhra Pradesh):At a government hospital in Andhra Pradesh’s Narsipatnam, Anakapalle district, doctors had to perform a delivery under cell phone lights and candles due to a power cut that lasted for several hours. The incident took place on Thursday at the NTR government hospital, where there was a power cut that lasted for nearly eight hours.

A video of the incident also shows a woman sitting under a candle and torchlight with a newly born baby. While the power cut affected several patients at the hospital, other videos showed people fanning infants with their hands. “It's such a big hospital, and there are no facilities. Even the generator got spoiled, it seems. It's like hell inside with no ventilation and lots of mosquitoes. There are not even minimum facilities,” said a family member of a patient.

The power supply was cut off from 9 am to 12 noon and from 1 pm to 4 pm on Thursday. Some of the relatives of the patients brought battery-powered table fans as it would be a problem if the power would not be available during the night. The drinking water plant in the hospital has not been operational for three days. Patient assistants fetch bottled water from homes. When hospital In-charge Dr. David Vasant Kumar was asked for an explanation, he admitted that in the maternity ward, there was no electricity, so torchlights and cell phones were used during delivery

"They managed to complete the delivery in spite of that since there was nothing else they could do. However, the drinking water plant will be re-installed soon," he added.