As many as 424 patients were evacuated to safety after a major fire broke out at Nehru Hospital block of PGIMER, Chandigarh on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday. No injuries were reported in the incident.

According to a PGIMER official, the fire broke out in the UPS system of the computer room on the first floor around 11.45 pm on Monday, with the smoke making its way up to the higher floors.  The fire and emergency services and the disaster management departments, police and the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research’s (PGIMER) own emergency response system immediately swung into action after the fire was reported and brought the blaze under control after some time.

 The windowpanes on some of the upper floors were broken to let the smoke out and prevent any suffocation incidents. The patients evacuated included 34 from the intensive care unit (ICU) and 80 pregnant women. Fifty-six babies and 17 undergoing treatment in the paediatric ward were also moved to safety, they added. Though initially, the fire triggered panic among the patients and their attendants, authorities quickly swung into action and brought the situation under control.

“We evacuated 424 patients. We have an extension building in Nehru Hospital where some of them were shifted. Everyone worked as a team in PGI with the Chandigarh Union Territory administration’s support,” said PGIMER Medical Superintendent Vipin Koushal. “There was no loss of life. But damage to property has taken place due to the fire and restoration work is being started,” he said.

According to a statement issued by PGIMER during the day, the fire occurred in the computer room of Nehru Hospital’s C-Block. The reason for the fire is believed to be a short circuit, it said.

The C-Block houses a dialysis unit, adult kidney unit, renal transplant unit, male and female medical wards, gynaecology, maternity, nursery and neonatal ICU, bone marrow transplant and operation theatres that function round-the-clock throughout the year, it added.

“As soon as the incident occurred, security officers, fire officers and staff members including faculty, residents, staff nurses and subordinate staff of PGI got into action and all the patients from these areas were rescued and shifted to the safer areas,” said the statement.

PGIMER Director Prof Vivek Lal, senior faculty members, the medical superintendent and administrative officers reached the spot immediately. UT Adviser Dharampal also visited the place of fire incident at PGIMER and gave officials necessary direction regarding the same.

A disaster management department official said, “All patients were safely evacuated. We cleared the ICU, respiratory ICU … Our rescue team worked in coordination with the police, the fire department and PGI departments.” The smoke and heat spread to the corridors due to which the patients from the adjoining areas’ advanced urology centre and male surgical ward were also shifted to safety to avoid any sort of suffocation incident, according to the statement.

The patients were shifted to two different areas of Nehru Hospital and its extension block. The authorities also moved the patients admitted in the adjoining wards and corridors to other wards or ICUs to avoid any untoward incident as the smoke spread. The evacuation was done within 60 minutes and there was no loss of life. Around 2 a.m., all the services related to patient care were mostly restored, the statement said. Director Lal has instructed the engineering wing for immediate restoration of the affected areas.

The statement said the areas affected will require major repairs and operation theatres and other facilities are expected to be made functional as soon as possible. At present, alternative arrangements have been made in other areas of the institute, Advanced Trauma Centre and the extension block.

A 14-member committee has been constituted under the chairmanship of Dean (Academic) Prof Naresh Panda to ascertain the exact cause of the fire and work out an action plan to avoid such incidents in the future, the statement said.