The recent death of two ICU patients, allegedly due to power outage at Vijayanagar Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS) in Ballari, has raised serious concerns about patient safety, even as September 17 was observed as World Patient Safety Day.
The case is currently under inquiry by a five-member team. Health and Medical Education Minister K. Sudhakar will also visit the hospital on Sunday to take stock of the situation.
This is not the first time that patient safety has been at stake in VIMS. In 2017, a vast portion of the roof of an operation theatre in the ground floor of the OT complex in the institute had collapsed. Fortunately, there was no casualty then as no surgery was being conducted at that time.
Leading cause
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), unsafe medication practices and medication errors are a leading cause of avoidable harm in healthcare. Medication errors occur when weak medication systems and human factors such as fatigue, poor environmental conditions or staff shortages affect the safety of the medication use process. This can result in severe patient harm, disability and even death.
However, it is not just unsafe medication practices that can result in severe patient harm. Several instances of patients on ventilators dying in the ICUs due to oxygen shortage, power outage and even fire have been reported from various States, including Karnataka.
Chamarajanagar deaths
The death of 24 patients due to lack of oxygen in Chamarajanagar district hospital in May 2021 created a furore during the pandemic. The committee of two retired High Court judges that was set up to probe the tragedy said the shortage of oxygen occurred as the dean of Chamarajanagar Institute of Medical Sciences (CIMS) and the in-charge district surgeon, a microbiologist, did not exhibit leadership qualities and failed to efficiently marshal available resources to save lives.
Sources in some district hospitals attached to government medical colleges under the Medical Education Department said heads of these hospitals have limited powers to take major decisions with regard to hospital maintenance. “Despite being autonomous institutions, they are supposed to take prior approval from higher authorities for all major works. Such bureaucratic hurdles can be disastrous,” sources said.
Sources also asserted that prompt and quick action in times of crisis is most important. Last month, a reputed government tertiary care hospital in Bengaluru faced an emergency following a Bescom transformer blast on the hospital premises. This cut off power supply to the hospital for nearly eight hours. “Hospital authorities ensured power supply was uninterrupted by shifting to generators. Diesel worth over ₹6 lakh was utilised on a single day,” sources said.
‘Treatment should not be more harmful than disease’
Listing out various aspects that need to be taken care of in terms of patient safety, C.N. Manjunath, Director of Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research, said, “Treatment should not be more harmful than the disease. Any surgical intervention should be taken up only if there is a genuine indication or need for it.”
Among other aspects, Dr. Manjunath said proper care should be taken while shifting patients in ambulances. “Wheelchairs should have belts, beds should have railings, AC ducts should be properly closed, toilets and bathrooms should have grab bars,” he said.
Asserting that renewal of maintenance contracts of all essential services such as generators, electrical sub-stations, diesel plants oxygen supply and patient lifts should not be delayed, he said, “Regular fire safety drills should be conducted. A dedicated engineering cell comprising civil, electrical, mechanical and biomedical engineers should be in place and frequent audits should be done.”
