A video from Andhra Pradesh showing the medical staff of a government hospital treating a wounded man with the help of a mobile flashlight amid a power outage was widely circulated on social media on Saturday, September 2. The incident happened a day earlier, on Friday evening, at a Community Health Centre (CHC) in Parvathipuram Manyam district's Kurupam mandal, which has a high tribal population. Sharing the video, Leader of Opposition and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief Chandrababu Naidu alleged that frequent power cuts were “causing immense suffering across various sectors in Andhra Pradesh.”
In the video, a man and a woman, a health worker, can be seen holding up their mobile flashlights in the dark over the patient lying on a hospital bed, as another health worker prepares to attend to him. Dr Vagdevi, the District Coordinator of Hospital Services (DCHS), told TNM that the hospital was equipped with both an inverter and a generator, but the inverter failed to kick in immediately after the power went out, as it had malfunctioned due to voltage fluctuations. She claimed that soon after the viral video was filmed, the generator was turned on and the lights came on.
"There was heavy downpour the day and night before the incident, which caused voltage fluctuations and prevented the inverter from functioning. In a matter of minutes, the generator was turned on,” Dr Vagdevi said.
She said that the seven CHCs in the district are all equipped with inverters and generators in working condition, as there are blood storage units in the CHCs which have to be maintained at a certain temperature. “Due to heavy rains, there was a temporary issue for a few minutes,” she said.
The CHC in Kurupam can accommodate 20 inpatients, and an average of 100 patients visit the hospital on a daily basis, Dr Vagdevi added.
Horrified by the scenes unfolding in Kurupam, where doctors are forced to provide treatment to a patient under flashlights during a power outage. Power cuts are causing immense suffering across various sectors in Andhra Pradesh, including households, agriculture, and industry. pic.twitter.com/SCOx3aSIRx
— N Chandrababu Naidu (@ncbn) September 2, 2023
Tweeting the video on Saturday, Naidu said, “Horrified by the scenes unfolding in Kurupam, where doctors are forced to provide treatment to a patient under flashlights during a power outage. Power cuts are causing immense suffering across various sectors in Andhra Pradesh, including households, agriculture, and industry,” and blamed Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy for “failing to provide a stable and reliable power supply.”
A similar incident came to light during summer last year. In April 2022, doctors at a government hospital in Anakapalli district’s Narsipatnam had to perform a delivery under mobile flashlights and candles due to a prolonged power cut.