Picture : ANI/ X
A massive fire blazed through the neuro ICU of Jaipur’s state-run Sawai Man Singh (SMS) Hospital in the dead of the night, killing six patients on critical care support, officials said .
According to media reports, Eleven patients were being treated in the ICU at the time, said trauma centre in-charge Dr Anurag Dakhad. The fire, which erupted in the storage area around midnight, is suspected to have been caused by a short circuit.
The flames spread fast and rescuers could pull out only five patients.
“Six people, two women and four men died, and five are undergoing treatment,” Dhakad said. “Fourteen other patients were admitted in a different ICU, and all were successfully evacuated to safer locations,” he added.
Walls blackened with smoke and soot, equipment twisted out of shape in the heat and shattered glass told the tale of the horrors that unfolded when the fire broke out.
Though some reports claimed eight patients died in the fire, Dhakad and hospital superintendent Sushil Bhati maintained that the number of deaths was six.
Meanwhile , In the aftermath of the tragic fire at the Sawai Man Singh Hospital’s Trauma Centre in Jaipur, families of the victims have accused the hospital staff of gross negligence.
The blaze, which broke out on Sunday night, claimed the lives of six critically ill patients due to burns and suffocation.
The hospital is the biggest government-run facility in the state and treats patients from across Rajasthan, including critically ill patients referred from district hospitals, as well as other states.
The trauma centre building is located opposite the main hospital building on Tonk Road. The fire broke out in a store room of an ICU on the second floor of the Trauma Centre, where 11 patients were admitted. Six of them died, while others were rescued.
A second ICU on the same floor had 14 patients, and all of them were shifted to safer places.
