21 patients died at the state-run Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad on Friday. The Medical staff of the hospital however blamed excessive power cuts for their deaths.

According to a report of Times Of India, some doctors said electricity first tripped around 3 pm and then continued to do so at regular intervals. Although there were four generators on standby, the hospital claimed they had developed snags and could not be used after power lines were later cut off to find the cause of the tripping.

The deaths have been reported from specialty wards, including the surgical intensive care unit, neo-natal intensive care unit, respiratory intensive care unit, acute medical care unit and the emergency ward, which were all affected by the frequent power cuts.

However, Telangana Health Minister Dr C Laxma Reddy tried to defend the case by mentioning that Gandhi Hospital is one the top state-run tertiary hospital that admits “maximum number of last-stage cases”. Hence, it is not right to entirely blame power cuts for the deaths.

Professor C V Chalam, the Superintendent-in-Charge of Gandhi Hospital, told Times Of India that each of the 21 deaths would have to be probed to determine if any of them was directly or indirectly linked to the blackout.

Several patients who died on Friday were on life support system, such as ventilators and incubators in the neo-natal ward.

The Logical Indian is appalled by the fact that a state run hospital does not have enough power-backing facilities in case of blackouts. We urge the government to carry out a probe into the matter.