Cairo: Surgeons at an Egyptian hospital relied on lights of mobile phones in performing a major operation after the electricity had gone off, Egypt’s medical union said, amid a worsening energy crisis in the country.
Surgeons at the state-run hospital in the Suez Canal city of Esmailia conducted a hysterectomy or surgery to remove a womb on a local woman with the assistance of cellular torchlights due to the recurrent blackouts and the breakdown of the facility’s generators, the Doctors’ Association said in a statement. “The surgeons had to conduct the operation because the patient’s condition was serious.”
The two-hour procedure was carried out on Monday when Egypt was hit by power cuts that reportedly ran for 20 hours in some areas.
Photos printed on Wednesday in local newspapers dimly showed a team of surgeons carrying out the operation with an assistant directing the light of a mobile phone to the location of the procedure.
“Despite the medical team’s suffering due to weak lighting, the operation succeeded and the patient ‘s health is stable,” the Doctors’ Association added.
Egypt has suffered from almost daily electricity cuts in recent months.
The government says the problem, Egypt’s worst in recent years, is due to fuel supply shortages, summer high temperatures and attacks by alleged loyalists of deposed Islamist president Mohammad Mursi on power plants.
The Ministry of Electricity has promised that the blackouts will ease in the next few months and totally disappear in four years’ time.
