santa Cabrini Outpatient Clinic Hit by Power Outage, Surgeries Canceled
MONTREAL – A power outage at Santa Cabrini HospitalS outpatient clinic Friday morning forced the cancellation of appointments and surgeries, sparking concerns about aging infrastructure within Quebec’s healthcare system. The outage, reportedly triggered by a faulty generator, left the clinic in darkness and prompted calls for a comprehensive repair plan.
Orthopedic surgeon Alexandre Benny, working at the clinic at the time, stated the power failed “at exactly 9:30 a.m., while I was doing an infiltration with a needle in my hands.” He and colleagues have video and photographic evidence of the blackout, and Benny was forced to cancel his clinic of “20 to 30 patients.” He called claims of no impact “completely absurd,” adding, “I canceled my entire day.”
The incident has drawn attention from local politicians, including vincent Marissal, the deputy for Rosemont, which includes Santa Cabrini and Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospitals.Marissal reported witnesses described a strong smell of diesel during the outage, stating, “in a hospital, this is not ideal.” He argues the breakdown highlights the “obsolescence of infrastructure in the health network,” pointing to similar issues in hospitals across Quebec, including Maisonneuve-Rosemont, saint-Jérôme, Drummondville, and Mont-Laurier. Marissal is advocating for a 20-25 year infrastructure repair plan with prioritized funding.
Dr. Benjamin Léger, an orthopedic surgeon practicing at both Santa Cabrini and Maisonneuve-Rosemont, received videos from colleagues showing the darkened clinic and smoke emanating from the generator. He believes the outage is “a fairly blatant example that doctors do not have the means to treat patients” and linked it to broader discontent among physicians with the Legault government, stating, “we have difficulties like that every day.” He emphasized the need for self-reflection before criticizing doctors, noting that existing contingency plans proved “inadequate.”
