Eight people died and 13 others were injured in a fire at a private hospital in Jabalpur on Monday afternoon, police said.
Eight of the injured were admitted to the intensive care unit of a government hospital in the city and said to be in critical condition and four of the dead were staff members and the others were patients and attendants.
“Preliminary investigations revealed that after a power cut, a generator caught fire due to a short-circuit in Newlife Multispeciality Hospital,” said Siddharth Bahuguna, superintendent of police (SP), Jabalpur. “The generator was at the entry gate, which is why the people were unable to escape.”
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“A few people entered the hospital to save the people trapped inside, but they couldn’t come out due to the massive blaze. Within a few minutes, the fire reached the top floor,” Bahuguna said. “Police and fire brigade reached the spot on time and doused the fire.”
The hospital is said to have no emergency exit. “There was only one entry to the hospital,” Bahuguna said.
Around 35 people were in the hospital at the time of the fire, according to the SP. Most of the victims were found on the first floor of the building, police said.
{{/usCountry}}Around 35 people were in the hospital at the time of the fire, according to the SP. Most of the victims were found on the first floor of the building, police said.
{{/usCountry}}All the members of the hospital administration switched off their phones and are unreachable for a comment on the matter.
Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan expressed grief over the accident and announced compensation of ₹5 lakh each to the next of kin of the deceased, and ₹50,000 each to the seriously injured.
“The government will bear the expenses of treatment of the injured,” Chouhan said in a tweet. “The responsible people for the fire will not be spared.”
A magisterial inquiry has been ordered to probe the cause of the fire. Documents related to the fire escape and fire audits are also being examined, officials said.
“The hospital was cramped with people and there was no emergency exit, which resulted in the death of eight people,” said Lakhan Ghanghoriya, Congress lawmaker from Jabalpur East constituency. “The administration was alerted many times about the state of affairs in the hospital, but no one paid any attention to the pleas.”
The state government has formed a four-member committee under the chairmanship of the divisional commissioner B Chandrashekhar. Members of the committee include joint directors, health, Sanjay Mishra and RK Singh and superintendent engineer, electrical safety, Arvind Bohare.
The committee will investigate the cause of fire accident, fire safety and electrical safety permissions and building permission related permissions and implementation as per the provisions of the Municipality Act, according to an official government statement.
Last year, 12 newborns died in a fire at the special newborn care unit in Hamidia hospital in Bhopal. However, no action was taken by the government and the hospital administration received a clean chit.