Violent storm knocks out power, causes chaos at Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospital
CBC
A violent storm knocked out power to the Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospital on Tuesday evening and its generators failed to work properly, leaving the intensive care unit and surgery block in the dark for hours.
The storm damage and failure of its generators sparked renewed criticism that the Coalition Avenir Québec government has taken too long to go ahead with renovations at the aging hospital.
Dr. Marc Brosseau, a lung specialist at the hospital, said the storm also shattered multiple windows, lightly injured at least one nurse and the power outage trapped people inside elevators. Firefighters arrived to rescue them.
The outage also delayed operations and caused some patients who were in intensive care to be transferred to the emergency room.
Ambulance garage doors could not be opened and the telephone and computer systems failed.
"We had major problems," Brosseau said, adding that backup generators didn't work.
Dr. Dominique Tremblay, a plastic surgeon at the hospital, said only emergency surgeries were likely to go ahead on Wednesday.
"We're waiting for confirmation that the generators are actually working," said Tremblay.
"We don't have our protection with the generators, so we can't afford to perform surgery."
The Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospital, also known as HMR, in eastern Montreal, has made headlines in recent months because renovation work has been postponed despite the hospital's decrepit state.
Media reports have flagged water leaks, elevator breakdowns and squirrels inside the hospital.
At the National Assembly on Wednesday, opposition parties accused the CAQ government of dragging its feet and mismanaging the hospital's renovations.
Parti Québécois MNA Joël Arseneau said the images coming out of the hospital demonstrate the need to go ahead with renovations.
"What kind of health system do we have?" he said. "It's not serious. It's another illustration that pushing back a project like this is completely irresponsible on behalf of the government."
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