In Etawah hospital, doctor stitches wounds in mobile torch light

KANPUR: A video rapidly doing the rounds in the city is of an incident in the operation theatre (OT) of Etawah’s Bhimrao Ambedkar hospital where two patients’ injuries are being stitched up under the thin beam of mobile phone torches held aloft by the patients’ families. There was no power, sources said, adding the hospital’s three generator sets are usually non-functional due to lack of fuel.
Rahul and Sunil, both residents of Hiranpur village under Ekdil police jurisdiction in Etawah, sustained head injuries, hospital sources said, following a clash between two groups on Wednesday and were brought to the hospital, among Etawah’s oldest and largest government hospitals.
As the hospital had no power, the doctor on duty stitched their wounds with relatives focusing mobile flashlights on the bleeding duo.
“As power went off briefly and the generator was not working, I wasted no time to stitch up and bandage their wounds,” said Dr Jaydesh Yadav. Hospital chief medical superintendent (CMS) Dr S S Bhadauria confirmed the incident but said “it is not a routine affair”.
“This happened on Wednesday at around 6 pm. Power supply was disrupted due to heavy rain. In the meantime, two patients arrived with head injuries. To provide immediate relief to the patients who were in pain and bleeding profusely, Dr Jaydesh treated them in the light of mobile torches,” Dr Bhadauria informed TOI on Thursday, denying the claim by hospital insiders that the generators “never work”.
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