Chalakudy Taluk Hospital cancels surgery post-anaesthesia due to equipment failure

Thrissur: MN Vinodan, the Thrissur district president of Janadhipathya Samrakshana Samithi (JSS), had a strange experience at a district government hospital here recently. 
Vinodan (65), was admitted to the Taluk Head-Quarters Hospital, Chalakudy, for a hernia surgery. Before the operation, he was administered spinal anaesthesia around 9.30 am on Friday. 

However, the surgery was dropped and postponed to Tuesday after the bipolar cautery machine broke down just before beginning the operation. Cautery is used to cut and coagulate bleeding. 

While speaking about the incident to Onmanorama, Vinodan highlighted that the hospital is crucial for the local communities, including those from remote areas like Athirappilly. Despite limited infrastructure and a shortage of medical and technical staff and equipment, the dedication of the existing doctors, nurses, and other staff has maintained the hospital's high standards, he added. However, the need for more resources, such as surgical and treatment equipment, medical professionals, and technical experts for equipment maintenance, is still pressing and requires attention.

The hospital superintendent Dr AA Minimol also admitted the machine failure during Vinodan's surgery to Onmanorama. “We have two cautery machines out of which one was taken for repair. The second one broke down just before the surgery started. We immediately contacted the service team that is being outsourced by the department and they reached our hospital in half an hour," said Dr Minimol.

"By that time, we had contacted the nearby Irinjalakuda taluk hospital, from where we brought another machine. However, the patient had started coming out of the effects of anaesthesia. Since the patient already has some breathing diseases due to his age, we had to postpone the surgery,” explained the superintendent.   

Dr Minimol further said that they immediately contacted their higher-ups and got sanction to purchase a new cautery machine from the Kerala Medical Services Corporation (KMSCL) on Friday itself and the machine was delivered to the hospital on Saturday by 10.30 am. 

“There’s always medical ways to cut and coagulate bleeding manually. And even though Vinodan’s surgery had to be postponed, we carried out surgery for three other patients, where the cautery machine brought from Irinjalakuda was used,” the doctor said.

Meanwhile, Vinodan said that the doctors and other medical staff were too consoling. “I just hope that the public healthcare system, the state and the local self-governing bodies strengthen them by boosting their morale and improving the infrastructure,” he concluded.

Chalakudy Taluk Hospital has previously won the State Accreditation and the Arogya Keralam Award. It also secured first position in the certification process of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) based on the National Quality Assurance Standards (NQAS) with a score of 98.07 in the year 2018.