At least 60 cardiac patients of the SCB Medical College Hospital here had a miraculous escape when a major fire broke out in the cardiovascular department of the hospital on Tuesday afternoon.
Three fire tenders took more than an hour to bring the blaze under control but not before it completely gutted one of the duty rooms located in the second floor of the building.
Eyewitnesses said columns of smoke billowed from the duty room at around 3 pm and soon spread to an adjacent ward and ICU which housed around 60 patients at the time. The panic-stricken patients were immediately shifted to the ground floor by their attendants. Shockingly, the entire three-storied building of the department had no in-house fire fighting measures when the mishap happened.
While it was believed that the fire broke out due to an electric short circuit, district Collector Nirmal Chandra Mishra has ordered an administrative probe into it. “Thankfully, all the patients are safe and their treatments have resumed immediately after bringing the situation under control,” Mishra said.
Health Minister Atanu Sabyasachi Naik, Health Secretary Arti Ahuja and the local MlA visited the hospital after the incident.
Fire mishaps due to electric short circuits are not uncommon in Government hospitals in the State. Such mishaps have recently happened in the neurology department of the SCB hospital, the nearby cancer hospital and the Sishu Bhawan, the paediatric hospital in the city.
It is also equally appalling as to how the State fire service department, which shows its supremacy over private hospitals for slightest aberration in fire safety measures, turns a blind eye to the glaring defiance of Government hospitals.