The light from the cell phone
screens allowed surgeons to complete an emergency appendix operation during a
blackout in a city in central
Leonardo Molina, 29, was on
the operating table on July 21, when the power went out in the Policlinico Juan D. Peron, the main hospital in Villa
Mercedes, a small city in San Luis province.
"The generator, which
should have been working correctly, didn't work," a hospital spokesman,
whose name was not given, told TN television news station.
"The surgeons and
anesthetists were in the dark... A family member got some cell phones together
from people in the hallway and took them in to provide light," he said.
Ricardo Molina, 39,
Leonardo's brother, told La Nacion newspaper that the
lights were out for an hour and his brother's anesthesia was wearing off.
Hospital Director Dario
Maurer told La Nacion the surgery was without light a
maximum of 20 minutes.
