Image for illustrative purposes

A malfunction of an aging transformer caused a power outage at the Victoria General Hospital site in Halifax, temporarily disrupting hospital operations and forcing the rescheduling of surgeries.

According to Nova Scotia Health, one of two transformers serving the hospital complex shut down shortly before midnight last Friday, cutting electricity to multiple buildings. The failure triggered breakers across the site, including those connected to backup generators, leaving the entire complex without power.

Derek Spinney, vice-president of corporate services and chief financial officer at Nova Scotia Health, said the issue originated from one transformer automatically shutting off, which led to a cascade of breaker shutdowns throughout the facility.

Power was restored within several hours using the remaining transformer on site. However, the Centennial building, where operating rooms are located, was left without backup power, forcing the hospital to postpone or relocate some surgeries.

The transformers currently in use were installed in 1967 when the Centennial building first opened. While the equipment had been regularly inspected, officials said there had been no indication that a failure was imminent.

Maintenance staff were able to identify the issue and manually restore breakers, while Nova Scotia Power provided a secondary power feed that bypassed the faulty transformer. Some areas regained electricity quickly, while others required several hours to come back online.

A temporary transformer from 1989 has since been installed at the site to support operations. Nova Scotia Health said two new transformers will need to be purchased to permanently replace the aging equipment, a process expected to take several months.

Hospital officials confirmed that surgeries at the Centennial building are scheduled to resume as normal.

Source: msn.com