A man who lost sight in one eye because of a city hospital's inability to activate emergency power supply during two successive black-outs in the middle of a cataract surgery was awarded over Rs one lakh in compensation by a consumer court here.
"It had taken about 15-20 minutes of crucial and precious time for the restoration of power supply, which clearly reflected the lack of basic infrastructural facilities necessary for the hospital," observed the Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum (North) headed by President K K Chopra.The court has ordered both Shyam Lal Eye Hospital at Malka Ganj here and National Insurance Co Ltd, both parties to the complaint, to jointly or separately pay victim Shanker Lal of Kartar Nagar Rs one lakh in damages.
It has also ordered the hospital to pay Rs 10,000 for causing mental agony and harassment to the complainant.
Lal was rolled into the operation theatre at the hospital on December 24, 2003 for a cataract surgery on his left eye.
However, the surgery was interrupted by two power failures, which stalled the operation for almost 15-20 minutes as it turned out that the hospital did not have any immediate back-up facilities.
As a result, Lal developed severe infection and pain in the left eye and his sight could not be restored despite continued treatment from numerous specialists.
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