3 deaths at Madurai Rajaji hospital, families say ventilators stopped due to power cut

"They used my mobile torch to take her ECG reading. Only 2 machines were beeping inside the ICU that had over 12 patients," says Chandrasekhar, whose mother died after the power outage.

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The Madurai Rajaji Government Hospital bustles at any given time of the day serving thousands of patients who come from every corner of the southern part of Tamil Nadu. And while the hospital boasts 24-hour care facilities, a recent power outage was followed by the death of three ICU patients who were undergoing treatment. The patients died at 5-minute intervals, raising questions on whether a malfunctioning ventilator due to the loss in electricity supply led to the casualties.

While the hospital has denied deaths were due to the ventilator failure, kin of patients in the ICU confirm to TNM that the power outage on Tuesday had its effect inside the ward.

Speaking to TNM, 36-year-old Chandrasekar who lost his mother Malliga on Tuesday, claims that soon after the power outage, the ventilator his mother was plugged into stopped functioning. Minutes later, the hospital staff informed him that she was no more. He was also shocked to see the nurses using his cell phone torch to take her ECG reading.

“They can't say that the ventilator functioned. I was present there and I saw for myself. They used my mobile torch to take her ECG reading. Only two machines were beeping inside the ICU that had over 12 patients. They informed that my mother passed away at 6.55 pm and within the next 10 minutes two others died in 5-minute intervals. Power resumed only around 7.15 pm. We don’t want anyone else to go through what we went through,” he said in a phone interview.

Malliga was among the three patients who lost their lives inside the 101 head injury intensive care unit in Madurai GRH complex near the Kamarajar Bus stand. A few other kin of patients who were outside the ward on Tuesday also confirmed to TNM that sudden rain that evening caused a power outage inside the ICU.

“I saw the nurses using phone torch to inject medicine. Some ventilator machines also looked like they weren’t working,” says one patient attender from Sivaganga district.

While K Vanitha, the dean of the hospital, insisted that ventilators were functioning with battery backup when TNM reached out on Wednesday, hospital staff refused to comment further during a visit on Thursday. The dean also added that generators were immediately started to restore power.

However, two persons were trapped inside an elevator on Tuesday, and Madurai Fire personnel had to be brought in to rescue them. Confirming the news to TNM, Thallakulam fire rescue personnel says, “We got a call from Madurai GRH around 7 pm to rescue two persons trapped inside the lift. We did so immediately.”

Given the stark differences in the claims made by the hospital and reports from eyewitness, the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has ordered for a report from the Health Department.

Dr Edwin Joe, director of Medical Education, confirmed to TNM that the SHRC order had been received.

"We will follow the directive given and we have been given four months to submit a report," Dr Edwin said. He however remains confident that there was no fault on part of the hospital. "Naturally when the current is off they will immediately use whatever light source they have. But all the equipment in the hospital is manufactured such that they have battery back up."