On Sunday, September 29, 2024, a major government hospital in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, faced a four-hour power outage that disrupted critical care for nearly 1,000 patients — including newborns and pregnant women. The incident highlighted how fragile electrical infrastructure can jeopardize lives when preventive measures are neglected.

Incident Timeline

• Afternoon: Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) cut main power for scheduled maintenance at the hospital’s transformer station (11kV line).
• Post-maintenance: Supply was restored, but a corroded Vacuum Circuit Breaker (VCB) blocked electricity flow. The hospital switched to two generators.
• 6:00 PM: First generator failed; temporary power was routed only to the ICU.
• 6:30 PM: Second generator malfunctioned due to a contractor/switch fault on the panel board. The hospital plunged into complete darkness.
• ~10:30 PM: An external temporary generator restored partial power.
• Monday 7:30 AM: Full normalcy returned after panel repairs.

Impact on Patients and Staff

Critical zones without power included:

• Paediatric casualty, emergency ICU, SNCU (neonatal ICU), and outborn nursery
• Labour room, emergency OT (caesarean sections), gynaecological casualty
• Paediatric cardiology, MITU (ICU), and 12 general wards

Patients endured distress — newborns in incubators, halted caesarean procedures, and staff forced to rely on mobile phone lights. While no deaths were reported, the outage sparked massive protests from relatives and required police deployment.

Root Causes and Lapses

• Corroded VCB: Maintenance due every six months was skipped before Onam.
• Coordination failure: KSEB (transformer/11kV line), PWD Electrical (internal supply), and hospital administration ignored prior warnings (?)
• Generator issues: Maintenance pending, no spares available, and no backup generator ready.

Instead of any blame game, we should understand the gravity of the incident and must discuss the way forward for a safe and reliable healthcare infrastructure.

Why Electrical Safety Audits Are Essential

This incident underscores the life-or-death importance of electrical safety audits in healthcare facilities. Electrical safety audits not only focus on NEC 2023 guidelines but should go beyond the standards to foresee such failures. Key lessons include:

• Redundant Systems: Hospitals must mandate dual-redundant generators with auto-start capability, load-tested to 100% as per National Building Code.
• Regular Inspections: Periodic VCB and transformer checks, with strict coordination SOPs between KSEB, PWD, and hospital staff.
• Critical Care Protection: UPS systems for ICUs and neonatal units to ensure uninterrupted power.
• Preparedness: Annual mock drills to simulate outages and train staff for emergency response.

Conclusion

The Thiruvananthapuram outage was avoidable. It was not technology that failed, but neglected maintenance, poor coordination, and lack of preparedness. We should positively approach the incident and avoid such issues in our healthcare facilities. Electrical safety audits are not just compliance exercises — they are shields that protect lives, especially in hospitals where every second of power matters.

By institutionalizing audits, enforcing accountability, and investing in redundancy, we can ensure that no patient ever suffers in darkness again.

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Note: All blogs are prepared by Sustenergy Foundation based on our research in the respective sector/industry and on factual audits conducted by us, drawing from our expertise in the field through electrical safety audits, energy audits, or other related studies. These blogs are published with the purpose of creating awareness and sharing technical expertise with employees at various levels — from laypersons to experts — and are prepared in accordance with the blog policy of Sustenergy Foundation.

Prepared by Sreelakshmi. S Head – Engineering
Reviewed and approved by Jayakumar Nair, Managing Director