Image copyright Eurpoean Photopress Agency Image caption An electrical short circuit is believed to be the cause of the fire

At least 20 people have been killed in a fire at a hospital in eastern India.

The fire began in the intensive care unit of the private SUM hospital in the city of Bhubaneswar in Odisha state and spread to other areas, officials say.

An electrical short circuit is believed to be the cause. Most of the victims reportedly died from smoke inhalation.

Dozens of patients were taken to other medical facilities in the city. PM Narendra Modi said he was "anguished" by the tragedy.

"The fire left 20 people dead and more than 100 people injured. They have been admitted to various hospitals in Bhubaneswar and the medical college in Cuttack," the state's health secretary, Arati Ahuja, told the BBC.

Many of the injured are in a critical condition. Earlier reports had put the death toll at 23.

Image copyright AP Image caption "The tragedy is mind-numbing," PM Narendra Modi said on Twitter

Image copyright Eurpoean Photopress Agency Image caption Local television showed images of firefighters smashing glass panes to enter the building

"Deeply anguished by the loss of lives in the hospital fire in Odisha. The tragedy is mind-numbing. My thoughts are with bereaved families," Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted.

In 2011, 89 people died in a fire that broke out in a hospital in the eastern city of Kolkata.</s>At least 19 people were killed by a hospital fire in Bhubaneswar, the capital of the Indian state of Odisha, Arti Ahuja, the state's health secretary, told CNN.

Another 106 were injured, she said.

The fire started about 7:30 p.m. local time at the Sum Hospital, a private hospital and medical college, and was contained in less than two hours, according to Ahuja.

More than 600 patients were admitted to the hospital when the blaze broke out in the first-floor dialysis unit.

The fire then spread to the intensive care unit.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi responded to the incident on Twitter, calling it a "mind-numbing" tragedy. Deeply anguished by the loss of lives in the hospital fire in Odisha. The tragedy is mind-numbing. My thoughts are with bereaved families. — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 17, 2016 According to preliminary reports, most people might have died due to smoke inhalation, Ahuja said. An investigation is underway to determine the cause of the fire, she said.</s>Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik visit patients at AIIMS Hospital in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday after they were shifted from the SUM Hospital. Photo: Biswaranjan Rout

Safety measures and deficiencies in patient care called to question after fire mishap.

A day after the fire mishap in the city-based SUM Hospital claimed 20 lives and left 100 others injured, Odisha police on Tuesday arrested four officials of the hospital.

The arrested officials were Medical Superintendent Pusparaj Samantsinhar, Electrical Maintenance Engineer Amulya Sahoo, Fire Safety Officer Santosh Das and Junior Engineer (Electrical) Malay Sahoo.

The arrests were made on basis of two separate cases registered against hospital authorities for alleged deficiencies in fire safety measures and lapses in patient care.

“In 2013, a fire safety audit was conducted at the SUM Hospital. Subsequently, hospital authorities were asked to comply with fire safety norms on ten different points. Upon an inspection of the mishap site, it was found that the majority of the suggestions had not been complied with,” said Director General of Police (Fire Service) Binay Behera.

Central Range Fire Officer B. B. Das filed a complaint at the Khandagiri Police Station here for non-adherence to fire safety measures.

The Directorate of Medical Education and Training, Odisha, filed another complaint against the SUM Hospital authorities for the violation of different norms.

Guidelines violated

 

 “The SUM Hospital authorities were found to have violated guidelines issued by the Health and Family Welfare Department from time to time. Besides, fire safety measures were not put in place and patient evacuation was not carried out properly,” said Odisha’s Health and Family Welfare Minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak.

The Revenue Divisional Commissioner (Central) A. B. Ota, who was assigned to probe the circumstances under which the tragedy occurred, also began his investigation. Mr. Ota said the hospital authorities will be asked to present their side during the course of the enquiry.

The Odisha Human Rights Commission, which took suo motu cognisance of the death of 20 persons in the fire mishap, asked State Home Secretary and DG (Fire Service) to furnish a report about the tragedy within three weeks.

The Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, J.P. Nadda, is scheduled to meet the survivors of the fire mishap at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhubaneswar, on Wednesday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asked Mr. Nadda to supervise the treatment of persons injured in the fire.

“An accident”

 

 Meanwhile, the SUM Hospital authorities termed the fire mishap as an accident and suspended four employees, including the hospital manager and the fire officer.

Speaking to media persons here, Amit Banarjee, Vice Chancellor of the SOA University, which governs the Institute of Medical Sciences and SUM Hospital, said, “The fire incident in the hospital was an accident. We had taken prompt action to douse the fire and evacuate patients. The casualty figures would have been much higher, had there been lapses in the shifting of patients.”

The hospital management announced a payment of Rs. 5 lakh to the next of kin of each deceased person, and undertook to bear the treatment costs for the injured. Mr. Banarjee said the hospital management would extend all cooperation to the inquiries ordered on the mishap.

As many as 105 persons were admitted to nine different hospitals in the twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack following the mishap. The State government has set up a cell to the coordinate treatment of injured patients.</s>Rescue work in progress at the Institute of Medical Sciences and SUM Hospital in Bhubaneshwar where a fire broke out on Monday night. Photo: Special Arrangement

Rescue work in progress at the Institute of Medical Sciences and SUM Hospital in Bhubaneshwar where a fire broke out on Monday night. Photo: Special Arrangement

A patient is brought from the fire-hit SUM Hospital to the Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar on Monday. Photo: Biswaranjan Rout

People gather at Bhubaneswar's SUM Hospital, where a major fire broke out on Monday evening. Photo: Biswaranjan Rout

More than 100 people were injured, many of them seriously in the fire.

At least 22 persons were killed and 120 others injured, many of them critically when a major fire broke out at SUM Hospital, a 1000-bed hospital in Bhubaneswar on Monday evening.

While 14 patients were received “brought dead” at the Capital Hospital, eight were “brought dead” to AMRI Hospital from the fire-struck private medical facility, officials said.

The Capital Hospital superintendent Binod Kumar Mishra said, “We have received 14 dead bodies, while five other patients have been shifted from Sum Hospital.”

Meanwhile, AMRI Hospital (Bhubaneswar) unit head Salil Kumar Mohanty said, “A total of 37 patients were received at our casualty ward. Our doctors have declared eight persons as brought dead.”

“Most of the victims were in the first floor ICU of the ill-fated SUM Hospital,” a doctor at the Capital Hospital said.

Voicing “serious” concern over the fire incident at the SUM Hospital, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik described the mishap as “very tragic“.

He directed the government hospitals to provide necessary treatment to patients shifted from SUM Hospital and requested all private hospitals to extend treatment to the patients from the fire-hit medical facility.

Mr. Patnaik has also ordered an inquiry heade by a revenue divisional commissioner into the incident.

Unconfirmed reports said three to four persons were killed in SUM Hospital itself during fire. The death toll is likely to increase. Most of the deaths had occurred during shifting of critical patients. Hospitals such as AIIMS, Bhubaneswar, KIIMS and Kalinga Hospital also received patients from the fire-hit hospital.

“We have kept doctors on alert in both government and private hospitals in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. We have appealed to every hospital to receive serious patients coming from SUM Hospital,” said Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak, Odisha Health and Family Welfare Minister.

Mr. Nayak said the State government had already ordered a probe into the circumstances under which the fire broke out.

Fire was first spotted in the Dialysis ICU and operation theatre situated in the first floor of the SUM Hospital building around 7.45 p.m. As per initial reports, short-circuit was believed to have caused fire.

More than 100 patients and their attendants were injured due to fire. Some people were found to have sustained burn injuries.

Although five fire tenders for more than three hours were deployed to bring the flames under control, smokes were continuing to billow from the first floor of the hospital.

“In an attempt to prevent suffocation from causing further damage, glass windows were immediately shattered by our volunteers and medical staff to make way for fresh air. Besides, critical patients were promptly evacuated,” Paresh Das, director of public relations of SOA University, told The Hindu.

Eyewitnesses said attendants were seen jumping from the first floors by breaking glass windows. Dozens of ambulances were mobilised to shift patients to hospitals across Bhubaneswar. Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force has been deployed at different places to facilitate smooth transfer of patients to different hospitals.

All necessary support is being given to Odisha: Nadda

Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda on Monday said the Centre is providing all necessary support to Odisha where more than 20 patients died and several were injured in a fire that broke out at the Sum Hospital in Bhubaneswar.

Dr. Nadda said that he has already spoken to the AIIMS in Bhubaneswar and asked it to provide all necessary help to the patients.

“Deeply saddened by the fire incident in Inst. of Medi Sciences & SUM hospital Bhubaneswar. My condolences rest with the bereaved families.

“I have spoken to Director, AIIMS Bhubaneswar to provide all necessary support and help the patients in the best way possible,” Dr. Nadda tweeted after the incident.

He said that the Union Health secretary C.K. Mishra has already spoken to Odisha Health department officials and was in “constant touch” with them.

“Union Health Secretary has spoken to the Principal Secy Health, Orissa. Officials of @MoHFW_INDIA are in constant touch with state officials,” he said in his tweet.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi voiced “deep anguish” at the loss of lives in a massive blaze at a hospital in Bhubaneshwar, calling it “mind-numbing“.

“Deeply anguished by the loss of lives in the hospital fire in Odisha. The tragedy is mind-numbing. My thoughts are with bereaved families,” Mr. Modi tweeted.

“Spoke to Minister @JPNadda (Health Minister) & asked him to facilitate transfer of all those injured to AIIMS. Hope the injured recover quickly.

“Also spoken to Minister @dpradhanbjp and asked him to ensure all possible help to the injured and affected,” he said in a series of tweets.</s>Four staff members of a private medical hospital here where a massive fire broke out killing over 20 people were suspended on Tuesday even as over 100 patients, mostly from the gutted Intensive Care Unit(ICU) and dialysis unit, were shifted to other hospitals.

While 20 deaths were officially confirmed, the authorities of different hospitals where the injured were shifted last night put the death toll at 22.

As many as 106 patients, who were shifted from Sum Hospital following the blaze on Monday night, are now undergoing treatment at different hospitals in the city, Health Secretary Arti Ahuja said, amid reports that some of them are in critical condition. Most of them were from the ICU and the dialysis unit, an official said.

Mr. Ahuja, who visited the hospital, said that 14 and five bodies were received at the Capital Hospital and AMRI Hospital here respectively, while a spokesman of AIIMS-Bhubaneswar said that one death was reported at their facility.

Most of the deaths in the four-storey hospital took place due to suffocation and asphyxiation, a senior official said, adding that majority of the patients at the ICU were on ventilator support.

The authorities of the Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan University (SOU), which runs the Institute of Medical Sciences and Sum Hospital, suspended four of its staff members and announced an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh each to the victims’ familes.

Those suspended were a fire officer, two engineers and one hospital manager, SOU vice-chancellor Amit Banerjee told reporters here, rejecting allegations that there was any irregularity in the management of the hospital.

“We have suspended four officials as part of the hospital’s bid to maintain transparency. Tomorrow no one should accuse that evidence was tampered with.”

Mr. Ahuja said the ICU and dialysis unit of the hospital have been sealed to ensure a proper investigation.

The blaze was suspected to have been triggered by an electric short circuit in the dialysis ward on the first floor and it spread to the nearby ICU.

The fire rapidly spread to other areas on the same floor.

Some patients have also been shifted to the SCB Medical College and Hospital at Cuttack.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik visited some of the hospitals, including AIIMS and AMRI Hospital, to inquire about the condition of the patients undergoing treatment.

Health Minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak said the priority was to provide ‘proper’ treatment to the patients who have been shifted from the fire-hit hospital.

The government had ordered a probe by the Director, Medical Education and Training, into the incident. In addition, a probe by a revenue divisional commissioner had also been ordered, an official said.

Rejecting allegation that the high casualty was due to wrong evacuation process, Mr. Banerjee said, “We have followed the best of the evacuation protocol. Had we not followed it, the casualty would have been more.”

Mr. Banerjee claimed that the fire safety parameters were checked only three weeks ago and there was no lacuna on the part of the hospital authorities in the maintenance of the electrical equipment.

“There were nine to 10 people under ventilator support,” he said, adding that most of the people died due to asphyxia.</s>At least 19 killed in deadly India hospital fire

At least 19 people were killed Monday when a fire broke out at a leading private hospital in an eastern Indian city, police said, with officials warning the death toll could rise.

More than 40 critically ill patients were trapped in an intensive care ward by the blaze, which is believed to have been triggered by an electric short circuit on the second floor of the SUM hospital building in Bhubaneswar, the capital of coastal Odisha state.

“We can confirm 19 deaths in the incident,” Bhubaneswar police commissioner Yogesh Khurania told AFP.

“More than 100 patients have been shifted to other hospitals. Many of them are critical and the death toll may rise further,” he said.

Khurania said initial reports suggested that most of the victims had died due to smoke inhalation, with toxic smoke filling the entire floor of the building and hampering rescue efforts.

Local television stations showed images of fire fighters wearing masks smashing glass panes to enter the building as they struggled to save patients from suffocating at the 1000-bed hospital.

Sharat Kumar Sahu, a police officer at the site of the blaze, told AFP that the fire started in the dialysis ward in the four story building and quickly spread to the intensive care unit.

Most of the critical patients were on ventilators and died in the blaze, he said.

Sahu added that more than 100 fire fighters had battled the fire — which started at around 7:30 pm (1400 GMT) — for some five hours until it was brought under control.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Twitter it was a “mind-numbing” tragedy, expressing his grief over the loss of life and promising to help the injured.

More than 90 patients were killed at a private hospital in eastern Kolkata city in 2011 after a fire raged through the premier hospital, trapping many patients inside the building.

Most of the victims died due to inhaling toxic gases, autopsy reports later revealed.

Sixteen officials from the AMRI hospital are facing trial in court on charges of culpable homicide, violating safety rules and negligence.</s>New Delhi — Three staff at an Indian hospital have been suspended after a deadly blaze in the intensive care unit, authorities said yesterday, as the toll from the disaster rose to 22.

Fire broke out on Monday night in the dialysis ward of the hospital in eastern Odisha state before quickly spreading to other floors, killing 19 seriously ill patients who were unable to flee the blaze.

Another patient died in hospital yesterday after being rescued from the burning building, said police inspector Sharat Kumar Sahu.

“The toll is now 22 as one more person has succumbed to his injuries,” he told AFP.

“We can also confirm that three mid-level hospital staff have been suspended prima facie (for) negligence.”

About 40 critically ill patients were in the ICU of the SUM hospital in state capital Bhubaneswar when the fire broke out.

In all more than 100 were rescued by firefighters who smashed windows to get them out of the burning building.

“Some patients were evacuated by breaking a window on the first floor and then they were lowered to the ground floor. And some of them were evacuated through the adjoining operation theatre which was empty at that time,” said Odisha’s health secretary Arti Ahuja.

“There are about 106 people who are (now) in different private and government hospitals,” she told the NDTV news channel.

In a separate incident, two people died early yesterday morning when a high-rise luxury apartment block in the western city of Mumbai caught fire.

Firefighters said 11 people had to be rescued from the blaze and two died of asphyxiation after they became trapped in the stairwell. The cause of the fire was not immediately clear.

Such disasters are relatively common in India, partly because of poor safety standards.

In 2011 more than 90 patients were killed in the eastern city of Kolkata when a fire raged through a private hospital, trapping many people inside the building.

Ahuja said the hospital in Odisha had been sealed off and a detailed inquiry would be carried out to establish the cause of the disaster.

Local television stations showed images of firefighters wearing masks smashing glass panes to enter the building.

Police inspector Sahu said more than 100 firefighters had battled the blaze for around five hours until it was brought under control.

Most of the critical patients were on ventilators and died in the blaze, he said.

The state’s chief minister Naveen Patnaik said yesterday that he had visited the evacuated patients in hospital and ordered an inquiry into what he called a “tragic incident”.

A government relief fund would bear the cost of their treatment, he said on Twitter. — Aljazeera.
A fire breaks out at a hospital in the East Indian city of Bhubaneswar, Odisha, killing at least 20 people.