A major overnight power outage disrupted operations at one of Halifax’s largest hospitals, forcing the transfer of critical patients and raising concerns about surgery schedules as technical crews worked to restore the facility’s backup systems.
The incident occurred at the Victoria General site of the QEII Health Sciences Centre, where electricity was lost late Friday night and remained down for nearly six hours. During the outage, hospital teams moved several patients to another facility to ensure continued medical care.
Power outage strikes late Friday night
According to Nova Scotia Health, the outage began at approximately 11:30 p.m. Friday when electrical power was cut to the Victoria General Hospital in Halifax.
Hospitals are typically designed to continue operating during outages thanks to emergency backup generators. However, in this case, the system failed to activate automatically, leaving parts of the hospital temporarily without electricity.
Health officials said the issue was linked to a problem with the electrical transfer switch, a device responsible for shifting power supply from the main grid to the backup generator when outages occur.
Without the generator immediately starting, hospital teams had to initiate contingency procedures while technical crews worked to restore electricity.
Five patients transferred to Halifax Infirmary
During the outage, five critical care patients were transferred to the Halifax Infirmary, another major hospital facility within the QEII Health Sciences Centre network.
Health officials said the move was made as a precaution to ensure patients requiring continuous monitoring and life-support equipment remained in stable conditions.
Hospitals rely heavily on uninterrupted electricity to power essential medical systems including:
- Ventilators
- Patient monitoring equipment
- Surgical devices
- Imaging systems
Moving the patients allowed healthcare staff to maintain the highest level of safety while the power issue was being addressed.
Power restored after six hours
Technical teams eventually restored electricity at the Victoria General site around 5:30 a.m. Saturday, ending the six-hour outage.
Crews were able to temporarily restore power by switching the hospital’s supply to a different electrical breaker, allowing the facility to resume operations while engineers continue repairing the backup generator system.
Officials said contingency plans remain in place should another outage occur before the generator issue is fully resolved.
Surgeries under review after outage
At the time of the outage, no surgeries were underway, preventing immediate disruption to procedures.
However, Nova Scotia Health confirmed that scheduled surgeries are now being reviewed as staff assess the hospital’s operational capacity while repairs continue.
Hospital officials also advised patients with procedures scheduled in the coming days to verify their appointments.
Patients who have surgeries scheduled for Monday are being asked to contact their healthcare teams to confirm whether their procedures will proceed as planned.
Cause linked to internal electrical equipment
While the power outage initially raised concerns about a wider electrical failure in Halifax, officials confirmed that the issue originated within the hospital itself.
Nova Scotia Power stated that the disruption was triggered by internal electrical equipment at the hospital, which activated a safety switch that shut down power to the building.
Safety mechanisms like these are designed to prevent electrical damage or fires by immediately cutting power when a fault is detected.
Once the problem was identified, technicians worked overnight to restore power and stabilize the system.
Crews continue repair work
Technical crews and Nova Scotia Health engineers remain on site working to repair the backup generator transfer switch, which is crucial for preventing future outages.
Officials have not yet provided a timeline for when the system will be fully repaired.
In the meantime, hospital staff are operating under contingency plans designed to maintain patient care and prevent service disruptions.
Major hospital in Nova Scotia’s healthcare network
The Victoria General Hospital is one of the key facilities within the QEII Health Sciences Centre, the largest healthcare complex in Atlantic Canada.
The hospital provides a wide range of specialized medical services including:
- Emergency care
- Trauma treatment
- Surgical services
- Intensive care
Because of its central role in the region’s healthcare system, even temporary disruptions can require rapid coordination across multiple hospitals.
Patient safety remains priority
Despite the disruption, Nova Scotia Health emphasized that patient safety remained the top priority throughout the incident.
Hospital teams worked overnight to ensure that essential medical care continued uninterrupted and that vulnerable patients received appropriate support.
The quick transfer of critical patients and the rapid restoration of electricity helped stabilize operations as crews continue repairing the backup generator system.
Health officials said they will provide further updates once repairs are completed and the hospital’s emergency power systems are fully operational again.
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