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”. 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. Mr. Banarjee said the hospital management would extend all cooperation to the inquiries ordered on the mishap. While 20 deaths were officially confirmed, the authorities of different hospitals where the injured were shifted last night put the death toll at 22. Most of the critical patients were on ventilators and died in the blaze, he said. 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. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi responded to the incident on Twitter, calling it a "mind-numbing" tragedy.
A fire breaks out at a hospital in the East Indian city of Bhubaneswar, Odisha, killing at least 20 people.