In Wake of Ahmednagar Blaze Tragedy, a Look at Fire Disasters at Covid Hospitals That Wrecked States

Another fire tragedy hit Maharashtra as ten Covid-19 patients died in a blaze that broke out in the Intensive Care Unit of the Civil Hospital in Ahmednagar on Saturday. So far, the cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained.

The Maharashtra government announced Rs 5 lakh ex-gratia for the kin of the deceased and has ordered an in-depth inquiry into the incident.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over the loss of lives. In a tweet, Modi said, ?Anguished by the loss of lives due to a fire in a hospital in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra. Condolences to the bereaved families. May the injured recover at the earliest.? 

In the wake of the tragic incident at Ahmednagar, here?s looking back at a number of fire accidents that broke out at a number of Covid-19 hospitals or wards in different states in recent times:

Bhandup Hospital Fire

In 2021, as we battled the pandemic, ten patients died after a fire broke out on March 25 at a Mumbai mall hospital where coronavirus patients were being treated. The fire broke out at the Sunrise Hospital in the Dreams Mall building in the Bhandup area shortly after midnight.

Twenty fire engines, 15 water tankers and ambulances were rushed to the spot. Many patients were evacuated by the fire brigade and shifted to another hospital. Initially, the hospital authority claimed that no one died of the fire, however, later it was discovered that almost 10 patients had lost their lives in that incident.

Telangana’s Gandhi Hospital

A huge fire erupted at the north block of Gandhi Hospital triggering panic among patients, attendants and staff in the morning hours. The fire sub-station at Gandhi Hospital swiftly acted to contain the fire that broke out in the switchboard located near lifts in the hospital.

“During the Covid pandemic, we had converted the entire hospital into an ICU to treat only critical Covid positive patients. For safety purposes, during that time, we also established a fire sub-station within the hospital campus, which came in handy today. We also trained our hospital personnel on how to respond during such emergencies and they did alert the fire personnel at the substation quickly. Within a span of 20 minutes, they managed to control the situation,” Superintendent, Gandhi Hospital, Dr M Raja Rao had told the Telangana Today.

LNJP Hospital Fire

A fire was reported in mid-October in the seminar room in the seven-storey Emergency Block of the LNJP Hospital. The room was locked when it had happened, and alertness and presence of mind shown by the staff of the facility averted a major incident, a senior official said. The 1,500-bed facility is the largest hospital run by the Delhi government, and also the nerve centre of the city?s battle against the coronavirus pandemic.

?The incident took place around 12:30 am and some of our staff saw smoke coming out of the seminar room, which was locked. Showing alertness, they opened the room immediately and used small fire extinguishers to put it out as much as possible, until the fire tenders arrived,? a senior official of the hospital said. The fire had broken out in the seminar room, located on the ground floor of the Emergency Block, and all patients were immediately shifted, she said.

No casualty was reported, Delhi Fire Service officials said earlier in the day. ?The room was locked and if our staff had not been alert, it could have turned into a big incident. Their alertness and presence of mind averted a major fire incident, as it happened in a multi-storey block. Power supply had got briefly snapped too but we shifted all the patients on that floor to another area as smoke was spreading out,? the LNJP Hospital official, also a senior doctor, said.

Virar Covid hospital fire

On April 23, this year, 13 COVID-19 patients died due to a fire in a hospital at Virar in Palghar district and a probe into the cause of the blaze was ordered. According to officials, the blaze erupted in the intensive care unit (ICU) of the hospital shortly after 3 am, in which five women and eight men died.

A statement issued by the Chief Minister?s Office (CMO) said that Thackeray spoke to the district authorities on learning about the fire incident. He asked the authorities to shift the other patients elsewhere.

?Give priority to douse the fire completely and ensure the treatment of the remaining patients is not hampered,? the statement quoting the chief minister said. He said that Vijay Vallabh Hospital is a private facility and a probe should be conducted on whether the fire safety measures were being followed there.

State Health Minister Rajesh Tope said in a tweet, ?The fire incident at Virar based Vijay Vallabh Hospital?s ICU section has claimed 13 lives. It is a very unfortunate and painful incident. CM Thackeray has ordered in-depth inquiry into this accident.

Bharuch Covid Hospital Fire

At least eighteen persons including 16 COVID-19 patients died in a fire at a hospital at Bharuch in Gujarat in the early hours of Saturday, officials said. The state government said a judicial inquiry will be conducted into the fire that destroyed the Intensive Care Unit of Patel Welfare Hospital, run by a charitable trust

?Sixteen coronavirus patients and two nursing staff were either charred to death or died due to suffocation inside a COVID-19 unit,? Superintendent of Police Rajendrasinh Chudasama said. As many as 50 patients were undergoing treatment at the COVID-19 facility on the ground floor when fire broke out in the ICU around 1 am, probably because of short circuit, said a hospital official

Gujarat Covid Hospital Fire

Thirteen people were killed in two different incidents of fire in 2020. Two reports of the (retired) Justice DA Mehta Commission of Inquiry looking into two incidents of fire last year had severely criticized the Gujarat government’s policy on outsourcing jobs of fire personnel as well as negligence of hospital administration.

It said that the fire in Rajkot hospital started from Dhaman ventilator provided by a private firm to the state government.

Chhattisgarh Covid Hospital Fire

An investigation was ordered after five coronavirus patients died in a fire at the COVID-19 ward of a private hospital in Chhattisgarh?s capital city Raipur on April 18. Raipur Collector Dr S Bharathi Dasan had ordered an investigation into the incident.

Officials have been directed to conduct safety check at coronavirus hospitals in the city.

The fire broke out at Raipur?s Rajdhani hospital, police had said.

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