Panaji

Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane has directed an inquiry into a prolonged power outage that affected the government-run district hospital in Mapusa earlier this week.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Rane said the investigation would be conducted under the supervision of the state's health secretary to determine the circumstances that led to the disruption.

According to the minister, the hospital experienced a power failure lasting nearly four hours two days ago. He stressed the need for a detailed examination of the incident, particularly because the facility caters to critically ill patients, including those dependent on life-support equipment such as ventilators.

Rane said the inquiry would assess the reasons behind the outage, evaluate whether the hospital's backup power systems functioned adequately, and review the response measures taken during the emergency.

He emphasised that accountability must be established wherever lapses are found and that corrective steps should be taken to prevent similar occurrences in the future.

"The circumstances leading to the failure, the adequacy of backup systems and the response mechanism need to be thoroughly reviewed so that responsibility is fixed and such incidents do not recur," the minister said.

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The district hospital in Mapusa, located in North Goa, is a 250-bed healthcare facility and serves as a major public medical centre in the region.