The Department of General Medicine block at Kilpauk Medical College Hospital (KMCH) was hit by a power outage that lasted for around three hours on Thursday evening, May 23. The outage, which began around 6 pm continued until 9 pm, affecting nearly 70 patients housed in the block.

Hospital officials said 23 patients were shifted from the ward due to the disruption and no one was seriously affected by the power cut. The power disruption was caused by damage to the underground cable during construction work of a hospital building nearby, stated a report by The New Indian Express.

The block that encountered the power cut is also a new seven-storey building, a part of which is still under construction.

“We are currently using only the first three floors. Of these, patients are admitted only on the first two floors. As the building is not fully operational, only stable patients have been admitted here. We also informed immediately for generator back up immediately after we received information of power cut at around 6 pm,” said Leo David, Dean of KMCH.

He said Health Minister Ma Subramanian was informed about the incident, adding steps would be taken to prevent such occurrences in the future. Health secretary Senthil Kumar visited the hospital and reviewed the situation.