A major tragedy was narrowly avoided at Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital after a fire suddenly broke out inside the hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) late Thursday night. The incident caused a panic situation among the hospital’s staff and families as smoke was swiftly infiltrated throughout the ward of several newborn babies receiving treatment.
The fire, which was reportedly caused by an electrical short circuit in a switchboard within the NICU/SNCU ward, was said to have occurred within a hospital room.Officials say the fire was sparked by a short circuit in a switchboard inside the NICU/SNCU ward in a hospital room. The witnesses reported sparks started to fly from the electrical panel and then the smoke started to pour out of the room, causing chaos in the hospital. Some parents were found to be in fear running out of the ward with their newborn babies clutched in their arms, crying and screaming for help.
Doctors, security guards and the hospital’s fire response team rushed over to the scene of the incident immediately after the incident was reported and started the evacuation and firefighting work. Staff successfully put out the fire using fire extinguishers in almost 15 minutes, saving what could have been a devastating situation.
At the time of the fire, eight newborn babies were admitted to the NICU. No injuries were reported as all babies were safely moved to another ward, hospital officials said. All babies are stable and no one was killed, officials said.
The incident, however, has caused significant worry with regard to fire safety and electrical installations within government hospitals. The family members accused the hospital administration of failing to act fast enough, which could have led to a tragedy. Numerous called for a full evaluation of the hospital’s fire safety and electrical systems.
An internal investigation has been launched and further safety precautions will be put in place to ensure that such incidents do not occur again, the hospital management said.