Narrow escape for 15 babies after oxygen pipe at Hazaribag medical college explodes

Hazaribag: An oxygen pipeline linked to a cylinder exploded and caught fire outside the 20-bed special newborn care unit (SNCU) at Sheikh Bhikhari Medical College and Hospital (SBMCH) here late on Tuesday, disrupting oxygen supply to 15 newborns, including three on ventilator support. However, no casualty was reported in the incident.A relative of an admitted child, Jitendra Kumar Singh, informed local MP Manish Jaiswal about the incident. Following this, the MP sent his representative, Ranjan Chaudhary, to the hospital.Hospital’s deputy superintendent Dr Rajkishore and head of paediatrics department Dr Kshitij Anand took stock of the situation to bring it under control.“The technical team was immediately called in and after their efforts, the damaged oxygen pipe was replaced and supply was restored,” Dr Rajkishore said. As a precaution, Dr Anand contacted private hospitals in case shifting of the three critical newborns became necessary, but no transfer was needed after supply normalised.Chaudhary said he had stayed at the hospital till 12:20 am when oxygen supply resumed.This was followed by a nearly two-hour outage, highlighting gaps in the hospital’s backup power supply. The emergency ward was worst-affected, with doctors treating patients using mobile flash lights and torches, while patients and attendants struggled in the heat.Sources said the solar power backup has been defunct for months, and the generator failed due to lack of diesel. Hospital superintendent K K Singh said that the generator could not be started due to fuel shortage. Dr Anand said that work has started to make the solar plant functional again.Expressing concern over the situation, MP Jaiswal on Wednesday said, “While timely response prevented a major tragedy, the incident raises serious questions about regular maintenance and monitoring of essential medical infrastructure.”He added that diesel could have been arranged for the generator if anyone had informed him.