High court asks chief secy, PSPCL MD about power backup at Rajindra Hospital

The Punjab and Haryana high court has asked the Punjab chief secretary and Punjab state power corporation (PSPCL) managing director to apprise the court by May 19 whether the power back-up system at Rajindra Hospital, Patiala, has been upgraded.

The directions came from the bench of chief justice Sheel Nagu and justice Sumeet Goel after it was informed that yet another incident of power outage was reported at the hospital – for 30 minutes in the maternity ward and operation theatre on April 15. “Let an affidavit by the managing director of the PSPCL and the chief secretary of the state of Punjab be filed in response to the present application, especially on the point as to whether the automatic switch-over backup has been installed at Rajindra Hospital, Patiala, or not. If yes, then how and if no, then why,” the court directed while posting the matter for May 19.

Earlier on January 24 this year, an incident of power tripping was reported at the hospital during a cancer patient’s surgery. In a widely shared video, a doctor was purportedly seen expressing concerns about the frequent tripping and patient safety. Following this, a public interest litigation was filed in the high court by advocate Sunaina, demanding strict measures to ensure that all government and semi-government hospitals in Punjab have a reliable power supply system.

In February, the petition was disposed of as the chief secretary, in an affidavit, had told the court that the health department has been told to ensure that auto-switch facilities for DG sets/power backup are installed in all government hospitals across Punjab, to address any power failure issues. On Thursday (May 1), Sunaina filed an application to revive the public interest litigation alleging non-compliance of court orders, which resulted in another incident of power tripping on April 15.