OT patients evacuated as fire breaks out at SSKM

KOLKATA: A raging fire at SSKM Hospital on Monday morning rekindled fears of a disaster rerun that the city had witnessed five years ago when an inferno in a private hospital claimed 95 lives. But swift evacuation of patients and prompt action by the fire services department saved the day. This is the seventh fire in a state-run healthcare facility this year.
The fire at the newly constructed Central Library on the roof the Ronald Ross block was first spotted around 10.45am.The sight of thick black smoke bellowing out of the the 10,000 sqft facility -atop the block that also houses the plastic surgery operating theatre, wards just one floor below and burn wards on the second floor -triggered panic among staff and relatives. Though chaos ensued, hospital staff and patients' relatives managed to evacuate the 75-odd patients, including three who had been wheeled into the OT for surgeries. The condition of two patients who had been administered anaesthesia had to be reversed. The plume of smoke that billowed out of the roof was visible from Second Hooghly Bridge and Maa Flyover, alerting the entire city and led to furious exchange of messages on the social media with photos of the smoke taken from various vantage points being shared on various platforms. The first fire truck reached within 20 minutes, followed by CM Mamata Banerjee who rushed over from her home.
She ordered a probe into the fire. “We have to check whethere it was an accidental or a deliberate act. The police will conduct the probe along with state fire and emergency department,“ she said, adding a mini fire station would be set up inside SSKM where two fire tenders would be stationed. “This fire station can serve SSKM and adjoining hospitals like Bangur Institute of Neurology and Sambhunath Pundit,“ Mamata said.
Her decision was welcome by doctors at SSKM but those in other hospitals pointed to the need for audit at state-run hospitals.
There is growing concern over the rising incidence of hospital fires, this being the seventh this year. Monday's fire was the second at SSKM in two months. That there has been no casualty in any incident other than the fire at Murshidabad Medical College was fortuous, they pointed out.
Firemen who fought the blaze for nearly three hours with 18 fire tenders from multiple sides, including the AJC Bose Road flyover that was shut, could not specify the reason or seat of blaze but suggested it could have been caused by an electrical short circuit in one of the three cellphone towers on the terrace. “The library has false ceiling without any alarm, smoke detector, water sprinkler or hydrant water spray . Even the mandatory water reservoir was not there,“ said a fireman.
Adoctor said no regular fire drilles were done for staff or security personnel. “The securitymen did not know how to use the fire extinguishers,“ he pointed out.
Traffic came to a halt for 90-odd minutes with the closure of the Race Course-bound flank of AJC Bose Road flyover to accommodate fire engines. Traffic on AJC Bose and Harish Mukherjee roads was affected. In fact, Second Hooghly Bridge, D L Khan Road, Hospital Road, Chowringhee and other arterial roads also got choked.