25 operations delayed and another moved to another room after power cut at Hong Kong hospital

A Hong Kong hospital postponed 25 surgeries originally scheduled for Thursday after a 50-minute power outage forced it to transfer a procedure to another operating room the day before.

Kwong Wah Hospital in Mong Kok said on Wednesday evening that its power supply system was interrupted around 7 p.m., affecting the electricity supply to some of its operating rooms.

“The hospital immediately organized emergency repairs and power supply to the operating theaters resumed around 7:50 p.m.,” said a spokesperson for the hospital authority.

“During the power interruption, one practice had to be moved to another unaffected operating room.”

He said another 25 non-urgent operations due to take place on Thursday morning would also be postponed, with the hospital organizing a full check of its power system, which would require the suspension of services in some operating rooms.

“All other clinical services at the hospital, including emergency operations, inpatient services and the accident and emergency department, are unaffected,” he added.

But the authority did not detail the nature of the power outage or its cause in its late statement.

Kwong Wah Hospital apologized to affected patients and said it had reported the incident to the authority’s headquarters.