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Staff showed exemplary courage, cooperation: Hospital director
The Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences in Lucknow defends its doctors and staff following a fire that killed two people.
A day after a fire broke out at the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS) killing a woman and a child, the hospital in Lucknow defended its doctors and other staffers who were accused of deserting their patients and not cooperating with fire officials during a rescue operation. “Our staff showed exemplary courage during the fire by vacating the floor and shifting the patients. At the time, there were 26 patients in the OT/ICU (operation theatre/intensive care unit). Out of them, 24 were successfully rescued and shifted to nearby wards/ICUs,” the hospital’s director, Radha Krishna Dhiman, tells Anupam Srivastava in an interview. Excerpts:
Two lives were lost in the fire. PGI doctors are being accused of abandoning patients on the operation table. How would you like to respond?
We are all saddened by what happened yesterday. During the fire, not even a single doctor or staff shirked from their duty. Whoever was present showed his or her full cooperation. Our staff showed exemplary courage during the fire by vacating the floor and shifting the patients. At the time, there were 26 patients in the OT/ICU. Out of them, 24 were successfully rescued and shifted to nearby wards/ICUs. A woman doctor, despite herself being pregnant, ignored the smoke and rescued patients. She was later admitted and given treatment when her health condition deteriorated. Dr. Shamsheri and technical officer Rajeev Saxena had to be kept on oxygen support for some time as they stayed in thick smoke for a long time.
The hospital has set up an inquiry committee after the massive fire. Who are the members?
Although an inquiry committee has been set up to investigate the reasons behind the fire and those responsible for it, I will not be able to disclose the names of the team members so as not to make them feel pressurised. I, however, can assure you that whoever is found guilty will not be spared.
Will there be a safety audit? Will PGI create more entry and exit points to make its buildings safer as there have been alterations to the original designs?
A full safety audit of all PGI buildings will be carried out. We will also study the reports of other fire incidents and come out with a foolproof plan to avoid such incidents in the future. Original designs will be revisited to make the PGI campus safe. If we have to open some spaces for cross ventilation we will even do that.
