On Wednesday afternoon, a minor fire broke out on the Medical College and Hospital campus in Kolkata, which created panic amongst the patients and staff. Officials said the fire was initially noticed at around 1 pm on the side of the garbage dump near the Green Building of the hospital at College Street.
Preliminary investigations are pointing in the direction of burning cigarette stubs being introduced into the garbage area being the cause of the fire. Thick smoke emanating from the scene first disturbed the people who were on the campus, and they therefore called the fire department.
Firefighters were able to get the flames under control in half an hour as two fire engines were rushed to the scene. The authorities of the hospital admitted there had been no casualties or injuries as aftermath of the incident.
Though the actual size of the fire was small and local to the dump yard, the spontaneous spread caused panic and turmoil in the hospital setting, with patients and attendants observed coming out of adjacent structures in a panicked manner.
The authorities promised that no harms would affect the infrastructure of the hospital nor the critical medical services were interfered. Nevertheless, the event created issues of fire safety regulations and waste disposal habits in one of the busiest medical institutions that is operated by the government of the City.
Safety measures at the hospital are supposed to be reviewed by authorities as a way of ensuring that similar incidents can be avoided in the future, particularly at the disposal points of combustible waste. The hospital management has allegedly been requested to put more fire safety measures in place, as well as carry out periodic checks to eliminate the recurrence of such accidents.
The Medical College and Hospital is one of the biggest and the oldest healthcare institutions in the city of Kolkata, with approximately thousands of patients being treated daily, which makes safety compliance a top priority.
Join our whatsapp group for the Latest updates
Click Here for Chhattisgarh News
Click Here for Entertainment News