Ceiling fan detaches, falls on patient undergoing treatment at Delhi hospital. He dies hours later

The critically ill 42-year-old sustained injuries during treatment. A nursing officer was also hurt. The emergency ward’s renovation remains pending.

A 42-year-old critically ill patient admitted to the emergency ward of Guru Teg Bahadur (GTB) hospital was allegedly injured after a ceiling fan fell on him as he was undergoing treatment on Saturday.

He died after hours of the incident due to the seriousness of his illness. (HT)

As per the Delhi hospital records, the patient has been identified as Md Akbar. He died after hours of the incident due to the seriousness of his illness.

The patient was brought to GTB hospital’s emergency department on July 18 by his brother. He was suffering from hypertension, meningoencephalitis and aspiration pneumonia, according to hospital staff aware of the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The hospital, in an official statement, said the incident will be investigated in detail by the hospital authorities. “It was observed that the fan shaft had fractured, leading to the fall of the ceiling fan. Such failure is highly unusual. It is pertinent to mention that no major injury was sustained by any patient, attendant, or healthcare worker due to the incident,” the statement, issued by Dr Parveen Kumar, additional medical superintendent of the hospital, read.

The incident occurred at around 9.30pm on Saturday as a nursing officer was administering treatment to Akbar in emergency ward 27. During the procedure, a ceiling fan allegedly detached and fell on the patient.

“The fan fell directly onto the patient’s bed while treatment was being administered. The nursing officer attending to him also sustained injuries in the incident,” said the hospital staff member quoted above.

Both the patient and the nursing officer suffered injuries, said hospital staff.

According to the patient’s death certificate, seen by HT, Akbar died at around 12.16 am. The cause of death has been recorded as hypertension, meningoencephalitis and aspiration pneumonia.

Hospital staff further said that family members of the patient had gathered at the hospital on Sunday morning, questioning the quality of treatment and raised concerns over the circumstances surrounding the incident.

The victim’s family could not be reached out via calls.

Notably, HT had reported in December last year that the hospital administration was planning to shut the Accident and Emergency (A&E) department for renovation and remodelling purposes.

“This has been decided to renovate and remodel the emergency block of GTB Hospital necessitating to shift the operations of A&E department to Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital (RGSSH), Tahirpur,” as per an official order dated November 19, 2025.

However, work on moving the department is still pending after eight months, according to officials aware of the order.