With a prayer and two batteries

A surgeon's fortitude when lightning completely destroys both the hospital generator and transformer:

by Husna Inayathullah

In what could only be described as a true display of grit and fortitude, Consultant Cardio Thoracic Surgeon of the Karapitiya General Hospital, Dr. Namal Gamage, performed a near miracle, saving the life of a bypass patient who, if thunder and lightning are taken as divine signs, would have faced a different, even tragic ending. And he did this with two batteries, successfully completing the surgery that ground to a halt when lightning struck, destroying both the generator and transformer of the hospital, leaving the operating theatre completely in the dark.

Though thunderstorms had been forecast for April 8 (Wednesday) no one thought of the drastic consequences the Karapitiya Hospital in Galle would face, when the patient was taken into the operation theatre at 2.30 a.m. and prepped for what would be life altering surgery.

The thunderstorm was in full force when the bypass surgery got underway at 3.00 a.m. and the inclement weather conditions continued through dawn break.

Thunder boomed and lightning continued to strike the hospital at frequent intervals, but when at around 5.15 a.m. the surgeon was closing the patient's chest, a particularly severe bolt of lightning hit both the transformer and the generator, plunging the hospital, and more significantly the operating theatre into darkness, and a patient's life in jeopardy.

The generator is usually the primary source of back-up power whenever there is a power failure.

But on this fateful morning, that back up option was also destroyed, leaving Dr. Gamage with limited means to complete the procedure and save the life of the patient.

How Dr. Gamage turned a near disaster into a happy ending is a story of expediency overcoming extenuating circumstances and a never-say- die spirit.

For, what he did when theatre was plunged into darkness, was to use the two UPS battery back-ups and quickly finish the surgery and close up the patient

Dr. Gamage, who later spoke to Sunday Observer, said they could not immediately transfer the patient to Intensive Care Unit (ICU) because of the blackout and that they were compelled keep him in the theatre while giving life saver till the power supply was restored.

The patient was finally transferred to the I.C.U at 10.00 a.m.

This is the first time that both the transformer and the generator were burnt while a bypass surgery was going on.

Hospital Director Dr. Shelton Perera said the transformer of the hospital was burnt due to lightning, plunging the entire hospital into darkness. Power was restored later in the day.