Raipur (Chhattisgarh): A fire broke out at Dr. Ambedkar (Mekahara) Hospital, the largest government hospital situated in capital city Raipur, Chhattisgarh, on Tuesday afternoon. Initial reports said the fire was caused due to the explosion in an AC compressor installed in the operation theatre of a Trauma centre.
The explosion and fire broke due to it being so gigantic that it engaged three fire tender vehicles to doused it off. Hospital’s own fire-fighting system was defunct. Despite the fire being put under control after an exhausting fight. It again exposed the hollowness of the state’s biggest Hospital and Health Department when it comes to having security measures in government run hospitals.
As per information received, at the time, the explosion took place; a patient who met with a road accident is undergoing surgery at the Operation Theatre (OT). Hearing deafening explosion sound, and eruption of fire, the doctors halted the surgery and initiated a rescue operation. Meanwhile, the patient whose surgery was yet to be over was left in severe pain and due to inadequate safety measures, a huge delay was caused by removing the patient, hospital sources informed.
It was also complained that instead of focusing on putting out the fire, hospital security personnel were seen engaged in trying to prevent the media from recording it. The fire quickly spread and the patient was rescued only when the SDRF team arrived at the scene and cut the window grill. He was later shifted to another ward.
In absence of adequate safety measures, to control the fire, fire brigade and SDRF personnel sprayed water from the ground floor up to the fourth floor, and tried hard to extinguish the fire.
Raipur Collector Gaurav Singh told media that the patient, who had been injured in a road accident and was undergoing treatment for knee and upper body injuries, is now in stable condition after being moved to another ward. He also mentioned that an investigation would be conducted to address any security shortcomings.
Junior Doctors Association officials, Dr. Dharmendra and Dr. Sarthak informed, some doctors involved in the rescue mission sustained injuries. Meanwhile their condition is stable.
