It was 9:15 A.M. I was taking a round of a ward on the ground floor, when suddenly the lights went off. I could just see vague shadows which were actually people. I was through seeing all patients in that ward. I turned in the direction of the exit and took a couple of steps. Suddenly I slipped and fell. I supported my weight on my outstretched right hand. Luckily I did not develop a Colles' fracture or any of the other injuries that can occur in the upper limb with this maneuver. But my right wrist was sprained. My left quadriceps femoris got pulled. My right hand was in a pool of soap-water. I asked the nurse why it was there.
"The servant is mopping the floor" she answered.
"Why so late, when the doctors take ward round?" I asked.
"He is a temporary servant I got from another ward, because our regular one is absent" she said.
"Luckily I have not broken any bone. But I don't want to fall on another pool of soap-water. Please get him to walk in front of me. He will avoid all such water and I can walk in his wake safely" I said.
"There is no water anywhere else" she said, instead of asking him to do as I asked.
"If you don't want him to walk in front of me, please walk in front of me yourself" I said.
She did that and both of us made it safely to the door in that almost pitch darkness. Then I went to the emergency OT to see if the generator had kicked in and started the emergency lights. It had not. All four OTs in the building were in total darkness, with anesthetized patients on the OT tables. Luckily they had not started operating in either of my both OTs.
"The emergency lights should come on in 15 seconds by the generator starting automatically. The contractor has made a mess of the work during repair of the building. Last time it had happened, I had complained to administration. The architect has stated in his answer that the generator had been started after 15 minutes."
I arranged to get the contractor's workmen to rush and start the generator. Their engineer arrived after 25 minutes and started running around in a panic because our boss had arrived on the scene. I recalled the same engineer had arrogantly answered me last time that maintenance was not his job. The OT got lights after 50 minutes. No woman or no baby dies or developed any complication. I thanked God profusely, but still wondering why He would not make the contractor and architect understand that emergency generator had to start in 15 seconds of the main supply going off, or some patients would die or get seriously compromised.
