20201126 Five Covid patients die in Rajkot hospital’s ICU blaze
India Nov 26 2020 “Building” “Hospitals”
Dead : dead 5 to 9 Burnout : 1 to 29 Injured : injured 1 to 9
Five Covid patients die in Rajkot hospital’s ICU blaze
Updated: 2020–11–28
RAJKOT: Five coronavirus patients, all of them senior citizens and male, died in a massive fire that broke out in the ICU of a designated Covid-19 hospital on Mavdi Road here after Thursday midnight.
A short-circuit in one of the ventilators is suspected to have triggered the fire, which spread so fast that the Mavdi fire brigade, which is barely 300 metres from the hospital, could not save their lives. The fire began at around 12.40 am at the 54-bed Uday Shivanand Hospital. There were four staff in the ward, including a doctor, but they could not use the fire extinguishers, despite being trained to, because the blaze spread so rapidly.
There were 33 patients in the hospital and 28 of them were shifted to other facilities. There were 11 patients in the ICU. Three of them died on the spot due to severe burns while two others, who suffered minor injuries, succumbed to breathing problems while being shifted to another hospital.
Rajkot municipal commissioner Udit Agrawal said, “There was some spark, but we are yet to ascertain whether it was in in a ventilator or some machinery.”
Expressing grief, Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani announced compensation of Rs 4 lakh to the kin of each deceased and ordered a probe. Police have registered a case of accidental death. The hospital had the mandatory fire NOC and all the firefighting equipment was installed, deputy CM Nitin Patel claimed.
The fire has left the relatives of the deceased horrified and angry.
Sandhya Rathod, the sister of the deceased Sanjay Rathod, said they had lost the head of their family. “My brother was admitted to the hospital on November 24. Doctors asked me to put him on a ventilator and I was called inside the ICU every hour. The last was when I took dinner for my brother,” Sandhya said.
“At 1 am I got a call informing me about the fire. I went to Gokul hospital first, but I was told my brother was not there. I then went searching in other hospitals. After an hour’s wait I was told that my brother had died in the fire. I don’t care about the ex gratia, it won’t bring my brother back. Why is the government allowing such hospitals to run, risking people’s lives,” she said.
Web Source: The times of india