Fire breaks out at Gorakhpur’s BRD Hospital, no casualties

Three fire tenders were pressed to control the blaze that caused extensive damage to the principal’s office and the adjacent record room.

A fire broke out on Monday morning at Gorakhpur’s BRD Hospital, where scores of children had died within a few days at the state-run healthcare facility last August.

Prima facie, the fire appeared to have been caused by a short circuit. (HT Photo)

Officials in the hospital said that the fire had destroyed some papers and documents in the principal’s office and the hospital’s record room but HT could not verify the claim.

Superintendent of police (north) Ganesh Saha said prima facie the fire appeared to have been caused by a short circuit.

Chief fire officer DK Singh has been asked to probe the incident. The college principal Dr Ganesh – who goes by his first name – is on leave.

Police said four fire-tenders doused the blaze in the building located near the emergency ward. No casualties were reported though the blaze created panic among patients and hospital staff.

Junior doctors and staff members tried to control the flames with fire extinguishers before informing the fire department.

An eyewitness said he saw thick smoke billowing out of the building.

Talking to HT on condition of anonymity, a doctor said the hospital administration failed to control the blaze despite installing an advanced fire management system worth Rs 1 crore.

“This is sheer negligence on the part of maintenance officer who even did not know how to operate the fire management system. Had it been used timely, the fire would not have escalated and the loss could have been minimised,” he said.

At least 60 children, including infants, died within a span of four days in the hospital allegedly due to lack of oxygen after a private group cut supply over a payment dispute. The Yogi Adityanath government said most of the deaths were due to encephalitis. 30 of the children had died over a period of 48 hours.

The opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) described the fire as an act of sabotage to destroy records related to the death of the children.

“It should be probed as to how and why only important files were reduced to ashes,” SP district chief Prahlad Yadav said.

Police had arrested nine people including the former principal over last year’s children deaths.

(With PTI inputs)