Power Outage Forces Rescheduling of Appointments in Alicante Hospitals and Causes Radiology Service Disruptions

Hospitals and health centres in the province of Alicante emerged relatively unscathed from the massive blackout that affected the entire peninsula this Monday. The backup generators available at these facilities enabled them to self-supply energy, thus maintaining essential operations. This was reported by the Department of Health just hours after the massive outage occurred.

The situation changed on Tuesday, as most Alicante hospitals no longer required generators for electricity supply. According to the President of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, only the hospitals of La Pedrera in Dénia and the University Hospital of Torrevieja still needed self-supply with generators.

In a message on his social media account, he assured that on Tuesday, patients receiving home care were being attended to and that health centres would work "almost at full capacity" unless there were issues with electrical or IT networks.

That "normality" mentioned by the Department of Health on Monday did not prevent disruptions in radiology services. Another consequence of the blackout was the suspension of scheduled surgical activities for Monday afternoon. Additionally, patients receiving oxygen therapy at home were redirected to Continuous Care Points (PAC) by the Emergency Information and Coordination Centre (CICU).

In hospitals like Sant Joan d'Alacant, sources indicate that emergency services continued with "total normality" thanks to the functioning of backup generators, although there were failures in non-medical equipment such as printers or call systems.

Other sources from the same centre confirm that management held an emergency meeting and decided to shut down all devices consuming excess energy, such as the CT scanner and MRI equipment. Non-essential area lights were also turned off to ensure the generator could continue to power ICU, Emergency, Operating Room, and Neonatal ICU services.

Surgeries that were underway at the time of the blackout were completed, but those scheduled for the rest of the day were suspended. Additionally, supervision staff in the Emergency area was doubled.

Other Alicante hospitals, such as Vinalopó in Elche, also report "total normality" during Monday's day thanks to the work of their backup generators. Hospital sources point out that the centre has up to four generators whose tanks could be refilled with fuel if necessary. Alicante health centres also managed to maintain their usual activity thanks to their self-generating energy equipment.