Fire causes temporary power outage at EWMSC

The North Central Regional Health Authority (NCRHA) is investigating a fire that took place at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex (EWMSC) on Thursday.

According to the NCRHA CEO Davlin Thomas, a fire was reported at a low voltage distribution panel around 11:30 pm.

He said the NCRHA’s Incident Response Team (IRT) which comprises managers of critical services departments including Intensive Care Units (ICU), clinical services, engineering, OSH and administration, immediately implemented the response plan developed for power outages.

The plan includes the mobilisation of ambulances, anesthetists, hospital managers, engineering, biomedical staff, etc who immediately engaged a situational analysis and subsequently transferred vulnerable patients from affected areas.

“The IRT was able to restore power approximately 90 minutes after the incident. Additionally, standby generators have been dispatched to provide an additional tier of contingency directly to critical areas,” Thomas said.

He also said that the final report on the incident is expected later today.

The NCRHA CEO noted, “Contractors are currently on site assessing the damage and repairs will begin immediately on the affected panel."

Critical areas such as the ICU, High Dependency Unit (HDU), Adult Emergency and Paeds ICU were reportedly unaffected as they have their own back-up power systems.

Electricity has been restored to all buildings. Meanwhile, the engineering department is performing an audit to confirm power distribution and assess whether further damage has occurred.

Thomas said, “This incident has resulted in several clinics starting later than scheduled today, but all our equipment and health services are currently operating normally."