Elderly woman dies after hospital power cut

An elderly woman has died while on a ventilator after a power cut at a hospital, local media reported.

The 75-year old woman was in the ICU at Hithadhoo Regional Hospital when a relative discovered the ventilator no longer had electricity late Monday night and alerted the hospital staff.

The woman passed away after her condition worsened because the ventilator was not working, a family member told Addu Online.

The hospital denied the patient had died because the ventilator was no longer connected.

“The electricity was out at 6 pm last night. Patient died this morning. Nobody died due to lack of electricity to ventilator,” senior community health officer Mohamed Najeeb told Avas.

Her condition was already critical when she was hospitalized, said Najeeb, adding that she had received immediate care from nurses after the ventilator issue was discovered.

The family has accused the hospital of negligence.

“They said the ventilator’s electricity goes off due to the wind,” said a Facebook post from the granddaughter of the deceased woman. “Why keep a thing like that in an ICU?”

The family was asked to not to talk about the issue, said the post.

“Why should we keep quiet? When we talk this won’t happen to someone else too,” read the post. “Today also she left us due to their carelessness. This is the state of a hospital which tons of people have to use.”

Addu City is the second largest urban area of Maldives with a population of 32,000. Hithadhoo Regional Hospital is the biggest hospital in Addu.