At least 127 Covid patients in a hospital of Odisha’s Cuttack city had a narrow escape when a fire broke out in the ICU on the fourth floor this morning.
Fire officials said a short circuit in the ICU on the ground floor of Sadguru Covid hospital in Jagatpur area of Cuttack triggered a fire this morning. As smoke enveloped the ICU and other rooms, alert hospital staff members started evacuating the patients, some of whom reportedly became unconscious.
Chief fire officer Sukanta Sethi said no casualties have been reported and all the patients are being shifted to another Covid hospital by ambulances and buses.
“Though the exact cause of fire is yet to be ascertained, it seems an electrical short circuit in the ICU was the trigger. Two fire tenders have brought the fire under control,” he said.
No fire safety licence was issued to the hospital, said the chief fire officer.
“Due to certain shortcomings, notice was issued to the hospital authorities and they were asked to comply. However, no fire safety certificate has been issued to Sadguru hospital till date,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“Due to certain shortcomings, notice was issued to the hospital authorities and they were asked to comply. However, no fire safety certificate has been issued to Sadguru hospital till date,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Sethi, however, said the existing fire sprinklers and fire detection system installed in the hospital worked which controlled the fire.
The Sadguru Covid hospital started operating a month ago with the provision of 150 general beds and 24 ICU beds. The fire is likely to make the availability of beds for Covid patients difficult in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack where ICU beds are almost exhausted due to a spike in Covid cases. Today, 4,242 new cases were recorded in the state.
On August 6, at least 8 Covid patients, including 3 women, in the ICU ward of a Covid hospital in Ahmedabad had died after a major fire broke out.
On August 9, ten people were killed in a major fire caused by a short circuit at a hotel which was being used as a coronavirus facility in Vijayawada city of Andhra Pradesh.
After the fire in Vijayawada and Ahmedabad, Odisha fire service officials had done a fire safety audit of all the Covid hospitals.
Fire safety in Odisha hospital has been a source of a major concern for the state government after a blaze in a leading private hospital in Bhubaneswar in October 2016 killed 26 people and injured over 100 people.
In SUM hospital of Bhubaneswar, a short circuit the dialysis unit spread to its ICU leading to carbon monoxide smoke spreading to ICU and other wards through ducts of air conditioning. All the deaths were due to asphyxiation, an inquiry report later found out. The state health minister had to resign following the accident.