Health Ministry refutes rumours over power outage at SMC cardiac ward

The Health Ministry yesterday refuted rumours that were spreading online across social media networks, claiming that the Cardiology Unit in Salmaniya Medical Complex (SMC) witnessed a power-cut for a couple of hours, exposing the patients to lethal danger, Tribune has learnt. The video showed the Cardiology Unit at SMC without power.

In a statement issued, the ministry clarified that only “tests to check the power flow in different departments were carried out”. “The doctors in charge were aware of this exercise before it was implemented,” the ministry pointed out. “In response to what was published in a social media network on partial power cuts in the cardiology unit at SMC, the Ministry of Health would like to clarify that the partial stoppage was pre-planned in advance by the management of SMC, in order to test the current supply and generators to be prepared in circumstances of emergency.

“Moreover, all concerned authorities at the cardiology unit such as doctors and nurses were aware of the experiment,” the ministry confirmed in its statement. The statement highlighted: “The ministry also confirms that there are alternate sources of electricity in each room for the patients in the cardiology unit, which will work automatically in times of a major power outage. It is a normal system followed at all hospitals in the world.”

“As for the patient’s heart monitor, it does not stop working when switching the device from the main source of electricity to the source of alternate electric current source, which means that the services provided in the cardiology unit are not affected at all,” the ministry said.