Power Saving Even During Surgery at Republican Hospital: Doctors Were at a Loss

The newspaper 'Iravunk' reports that on July 10, during several hours of power outages across the country, the Ministers of Health, Education, Science, Culture, and Sports, Arsen Torosyan and Arayik Harutyunyan, considered it their sacred duty to urge people to use electricity sparingly.

For instance, Arsen Torosyan wrote on his Facebook page: "There is a serious deficit of electricity in the country, please use it as sparingly as possible so that it is sufficient for the most essential institutions. Turn off unnecessary lights, air conditioners, etc."

At the Republican Hospital, it appears they took the 'boss's' orders so seriously that they cut the power indiscriminately. A source told 'Iravunk' that doctors were unable to perform surgery on a patient lying on the operating table due to the lack of electricity.

"They were supposed to perform a local anesthesia operation, but when the electricity went out, the doctors looked at each other, unsure of what to do. We asked if they had the necessary equipment to provide electricity, and they said no. We had to wait until the lights returned before the doctors could get to work. Fortunately, they hadn't started the surgery; otherwise, can you imagine what would have happened if there was a power outage during the operation?" the source said.

Our interlocutor also mentioned that they called the Health Ministry's hotline, reported the issue, but were told in response that there was nothing they could do and that the hospital administration had to be approached. Thus, the Ministry seems unresponsive to the situation prevailing within its subordinate healthcare facility.

What does it mean to postpone or leave an operation unfinished due to a lack of electricity? What if there were an extreme case where immediate surgery was a matter of seconds? Who would be held accountable then?

For more details, refer to today's issue of the newspaper.