In major fire that broke out at a leading private health-care institute in the city, Sum Hospital, 19 people reportedly have been killed and around 50 have been injured.
According to the reports, fire started at 7.30 pm in the dialysis ward on the second floor of the hospital. Media sources said that the electric short circuit could have sparked the fire, which spread on the entire floor within minutes. Seven patients were admitted into the dialysis ward and 11 patients were present in the nearby ICU during the unfortunate incident.
A police officer said, “A number of patients were present in the ward when the fire broke out.”
The affected patients were taken to other hospital in the city. The other AMRI Hospital declared eight dead. The rest who suffered burns were shifted to the Capital Hospital.
“The cause of the fire is being investigates,” said DGP (Fire Services) Binoy Behera. Few patients as well as their attendants have been injured while trying to escape from chaos and smoke.
Hospital Deputy Superintendent Basant Patil said, “Soon after the fire broke out, we shifted patients to a safer place. We also broke open some window panes to prevent suffocation of patients. Our own staffers were engaged in the rescue act.”
Police said that some frightened patients even tried to jump from the second floor. “Out of panic, some people were attempting to jump to rescue themselves. We prevented them from doing so and rescued them,” said a police official.
The blaze was brought under control later in the night, according to the reports.
Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik visited the Sum Hospital and inspected the situation. He has ordered Revenue Divisional Commissioner level probe into the mishap. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also spoke with Odisha CM and has assured all help in dealing with the tragedy.
Earlier, on May 31, a fire broke out at the state-run SCB Medical College and hospital in Cuttack. However, 100 patients had a fortunate escape when the cardiology department caught fire.
By Prajakt K.
