DOCTORS at the Windhoek Central Hospital were on Sunday night forced to abandon surgery after an hour-long power outage in the capital affected the medical institution.
Back-up generators failed to kick in after the power went off at around 20h30 – while some doctors were performing surgery. One doctor, who did not want to be named, said a colleague of his had already started operating on a patient undergoing back surgery when the lights went out and forced them to abandon it.”They had to sew him up in the dark,” he said.When the patient woke up, he was informed that the surgery had to be postponed.”It’s not a safe environment.We’re going to get in trouble if something happens to a patient,” the doctor stated.”We’ll end up in front of the courts if someone dies,” he said.The hospital’s Acting Senior Medical Superintendent, Dr Zula Nigmatuliha, yesterday confirmed the power failure, but said that “no major incident” had occurred as a result.She added that the power at the hospital failed not only on Sunday, but also for brief periods on Thursday afternoon and yesterday.She said none of the doctors had made any complaints to the ministry yet, and thus she had been unaware of any complications during surgery.”I was the medical superintendent on call, and I wasn’t told anything,” she said about Sunday’s incident, adding that she had only learned of what had happened yesterday morning.Speaking to The Namibian yesterday afternoon, Nigmatuliha said that all surgery at the State Hospital would be transferred to other hospitals, but later stated that technicians from the Ministry of Works had fixed the electrical problems with the generators.She further said that the generators were the responsibility of the Works Ministry rather than the Health Ministry, and referred all further questions about the generator failure there.Neither the Permanent Secretary of the Health Ministry nor the Deputy Permanent Secretary of Works had been aware of the incident when contacted yesterday.The Ministry of Works’ Chief Works Inspector, said by staff to be the one responsible for the generators, could not be reached for comment yesterday.NamPower Acting Managing Director Reiner Jagau yesterday said the power outage, which affected most parts of Windhoek, was caused by a lighting strike at the Van Eck Power Station.One doctor, who did not want to be named, said a colleague of his had already started operating on a patient undergoing back surgery when the lights went out and forced them to abandon it.”They had to sew him up in the dark,” he said.When the patient woke up, he was informed that the surgery had to be postponed.”It’s not a safe environment.We’re going to get in trouble if something happens to a patient,” the doctor stated.”We’ll end up in front of the courts if someone dies,” he said.The hospital’s Acting Senior Medical Superintendent, Dr Zula Nigmatuliha, yesterday confirmed the power failure, but said that “no major incident” had occurred as a result.She added that the power at the hospital failed not only on Sunday, but also for brief periods on Thursday afternoon and yesterday.She said none of the doctors had made any complaints to the ministry yet, and thus she had been unaware of any complications during surgery.”I was the medical superintendent on call, and I wasn’t told anything,” she said about Sunday’s incident, adding that she had only learned of what had happened yesterday morning.Speaking to The Namibian yesterday afternoon, Nigmatuliha said that all surgery at the State Hospital would be transferred to other hospitals, but later stated that technicians from the Ministry of Works had fixed the electrical problems with the generators. She further said that the generators were the responsibility of the Works Ministry rather than the Health Ministry, and referred all further questions about the generator failure there.Neither the Permanent Secretary of the Health Ministry nor the Deputy Permanent Secretary of Works had been aware of the incident when contacted yesterday.The Ministry of Works’ Chief Works Inspector, said by staff to be the one responsible for the generators, could not be reached for comment yesterday.NamPower Acting Managing Director Reiner Jagau yesterday said the power outage, which affected most parts of Windhoek, was caused by a lighting strike at the Van Eck Power Station.
