The fire broke out in the ward at around 9 am when patients were half asleep, while their relatives were refreshing themselves with tea and breakfast.
After Vadilal Sarabhai Hospital, it was the turn of Asia's biggest hospital, Civil, to catch fire. Three patients admitted to ward E-7 of Civil in Ahmedabad had a narrow escape on Sunday morning when fire was caused by short circuit in an air-conditioner. However, there was no casualty or injury – but some patients got the fright of their life.
The fire broke out in the ward at around 9 am when patients were half asleep, while their relatives were refreshing themselves with tea and breakfast. All three patients admitted in E-7/2 ward were shifted to an adjoining ward. The scene on the spot was chaotic and confused patients and relatives were left baffled by the fire, even though it was a minor one.
"As soon as I saw the signs of a short circuit in the A/C, I woke up my father and two other patients and took them out of the room with the help of staff and other people," said Chetan Panchal, whose father was admitted in E-7/2 ward.
The fire was extinguished by staff of the civic hospital with the help of relatives of patients and security personnel, before the fire brigade reached the spot. However, it was not easy for the staff to control the fire. "There was utter confusion at the scene of the fire, as there was almost zero visibility," said one of the security men. MM Prabhakar, superintendent of Civil Hospital, termed the fire as a "small accident".
"Open live wires in the hospital are most dangerous things and it seems that the authorities are waiting for a big fire to take place," said Jethabhai Makwana, a relative of a patient admitted to E-7 ward.
Replying to a question about the same, Prabhakar said that the building of the civil hospital is owned by the public works department (PWD) of the state government and the agency looks after the maintenance of the building. So work related to electric, drainage and water supply are carried out by PWD only.
Electrical engineers of the state government and PWD have inspected the site of the fire and they will carry out inspection of the wiring system and electric load on the line, he added.
He also said that the hospital authorities had drawn the attention of PWD staff to the open live wires, around a week ago. They had promised to solve the problem in 10-15 days, Prabhakar said.
Talking about fire safety system in the Civic Hospital, Prabhakar said that fire extinguishers were placed outside each ward. While the work on a hydrant system was about to be completed in the trauma ward, it was going on in the E ward, he said.
One of the relatives of the patients admitted to E-7/2 ward said that the fire extinguisher was empty. However, hospital authorities denied this and said that they had refilled the fire extinguishers after the accident in the cath lab of the VS Hospital.
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