Prague military hospital blackout: surgeries halted as lights went out

Operations were interrupted at the Central Military Hospital in Prague’s Střešovice district on Wednesday: the building lost electricity, and the backup generators unexpectedly failed to cope. The hospital is run by the Ministry of Defense, and former President Miloš Zeman, among others, has been treated there in the past.

According to journalists who spoke to several doctors and staff members, the outage lasted about twenty minutes. Some sources, who did not want to give their names because of a ban on talking to the press, speak of an even longer interruption. They all agree that the “blackout” occurred about an hour before noon.

Doctors describe twenty minutes without light

Operating surgeons and their teams were hit hardest: the lights went out in the windowless operating rooms. “All operations were paused for about twenty minutes,” said a doctor from the neurosurgery clinic, who asked to remain anonymous. According to him, staff could not use some equipment, such as suction devices.

Ventilators for patients under sedation kept working only thanks to their own batteries, which last about an hour. Other doctors said that outpatient clinics were partly shut down and that admissions to the emergency department were suspended.

The hospital speaks of a few minutes

Hospital spokeswoman Andrea Štorchová says that the power interruption lasted a few minutes. According to her, over the following tens of minutes the voltage was unstable, causing backup power sources to switch on and off alternately. She stressed that this had no effect on the condition of the patients being operated on, that staff monitored the situation continuously, and that there have been no patient complaints so far.

The hospital presents itself publicly as an institution prepared for crisis scenarios. According to a January article in a trade publication, in a large-scale blackout it would be able to maintain basic operations, intensive care and emergency procedures.

The hospital is now looking into the cause of the failure. One theory is a link to the reconstruction of the energy center. “This is one of the options being examined in the technical investigation,” Štorchová said. Asked whether anyone is being blamed, she did not answer directly, but her words suggest that this is not a priority for now: the hospital is currently focused on establishing the cause.

Money for the energy center repairs was cut

The problem with one of the energy centers arose at a time when the hospital has less money. As journalists reported in the spring, the institution had counted on about 500 million crowns in investment this year, including for repairing one of the energy centers, but received only around 90 million.

The hospital has more than 670 beds and about 380 doctors, and admits roughly 26 thousand patients every year. It also runs a strategic blood bank for use in a state of crisis.

Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz