NE NEWS SERVICE
VADODARA, SEPT 8
A fire broke out on Tuesday evening at an ICU ward of a government hospital in Vadodara in Gujarat where around 300 coronavirus patients were being treated.
Thirty-five patients were shifted from two affected wards, but nobody was injured in the incident and the fire was brought under control soon, said Gujarat Health Minister Nitin Patel.
The fire broke out due to a short circuit in a ventilator inside the ICU ward on the first floor of six-story SSG Hospital where critical coronavirus patients were being treated, he said.
Around 300 coronavirus patients are being treated at the hospital, Patel said.
“There were 15 patients in the ward where the fire broke out. These patients, as well as 20 others in the neighbouring ward, were evacuated safely. The entire hospital is functioning,” the health minister said.
“No patient was injured or trapped, and everything is under control,” Patel said.
But for a brief period, the fire caused panic and confusion as COVID-19 patients were evacuated from the two wards by the staff wearing PPE suits, eyewitnesses said.
Critical patients were rushed down to the ground floor and were provided with oxygen cylinders.
“Doctors are attending to the critical patients who have been evacuated, and they will be shifted to another hospital,” Vadodara MP Ranjan Bhatt said.
Mayor Jigeeshaben Shah said there is no dearth of hospital beds in the city for COVID-19 patients, and the patients will be immediately shifted to another government hospital.
