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Security concerns raised over SMS hospital infra repeatedly ignored
A fire at SMS Hospital in Jaipur killed six patients, highlighting ignored safety concerns raised by officials about the ICU's infrastructure.
Jaipur: On July 30, 2025, an official at the trauma centre of the Rajasthan government-run Sawai Man Singh (SMS) Hospital in Jaipur had alerted the hospital and health authorities about water leakage, faulty wiring and poor building infrastructure at the intensive care unit (ICU), where a massive fire on Sunday night killed six patients.
Since then, four more letters were sent to the hospital authorities flagging safety concerns to the ICU, but no action was taken. Of the five letters, three were written by the nodal officer of trauma centre, Dr Anurag Dhakad, to hospital superintendent Dr Sushil Bhati — both of whom were suspended after the fire incident — while two letters were written to Dhakad by the nursing superintendent, Dr Ganga Lal and others.
In the most recent letter to Bhati on October 3, Dhakad flagged the danger to the trauma centre’s operation theatre due to an ongoing construction work over it. “A neuro operation theatre is being constructed at the roof of the trauma centre whose debris may cause damage to the VRV system, electric panel, and doc machines installed at the trauma centre. We urge the authority to direct the constructors to take necessary steps so that they are not damaged,” said the letter, a copy of which was accessed by HT.
It came only two days after the nursing superintendent took up the matter with Dhakad in a letter on October 1.
Earlier in another letter to Bhati on September 9, Dhakad raised concerns about water dripping from the damped wall of the trauma centre’s operation theatre. “Due to the construction work, water is leaking from the damped walls of the OT. It could be dangerous as this dripping water is often coming in contact with the electric panels across the OT and the connected wards resulting in electric sparks. It will completely be the responsibility of the construction and engineering department if any patient gets hurt,” said the September 9 letter, also seen by HT.
On July 30, Lal and the neurosurgery department head Dr Manish Agrawal also wrote to Dhakad to repair a damaged false ceiling of the ICU 203, saying it “may collapse anytime causing damage to the patients.”
However, no action was taken despite multiple letters flagging safety concerns, trauma centre officials said.
“The electric panel of the OT was also connected to the ICU which caught fire on Sunday night due to a short circuit. The water leakage issue and damps were also visible in that ICU. Had the action been taken timely, this short circuit could have been avoided,” an engineer at the trauma centre said, requesting anonymity.
At least six patients died due to suffocation after a massive fire broke out at the ICU of SMS Hospital’s trauma centre on Sunday night. Following the incident, hospital superintendent Bhati and trauma centre’s nodal officer Dhakad were removed from their posts. They were replaced by Dr Mrinal Joshi and Dr BL Yadav as acting superintendent and acting nodal officer, respectively.
“The state government has the authority to appoint me and remove me from the post… I have been fulfilling my responsibility and have informed my senior officials. It’s my duty to inform them about the possibility of any incident, and I have done that. I wrote letters,” Dhakad was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
Rajasthan health secretary Gayatri Rathore, SMS hospital acting superintendent Dr Mrinal Joshi, and principal of the SMS Medical College Dr Deepak Maheswari did not respond to HT’s phone calls for a comment.
