(Image Source: X.com/ANI)
Eight patients, including three women, succumbed to injuries after a huge fire that erupted late on Sunday night in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the trauma center at Sawai Man Singh (SMS) Hospital in Jaipur. The fire broke out at 11:20 pm in the storeroom of the neuro ICU ward, where papers, medical equipment, and blood test tubes were stored. Officials suspect a short circuit to be the reason.
11 patients were present in the affected ICU at the time of the incident, and 13 others were in a neighboring ward. A fire officer explained that all entry points were obstructed by the smoke-filled ward by the time firefighters arrived.
"We used to shatter windowpanes from the other side of the building and pump in water jets inside," he added. It required almost an hour and a half to extinguish the flames. Patients were evacuated on their beds and brought to the roadside.
The dead have been identified as Pintu (Sikar), Dileep (Aandhi, Jaipur), Shrinath (Bharatpur), Rukmani (Bharatpur), Kushma (Bharatpur), Sarvesh (Agra, UP), Bahadur (Sanganer, Jaipur), and Digambar Verma.
Former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot tweeted, "The blaze in the ICU of the trauma center at SMS Hospital, claiming 7 lives, is extremely tragic. I hope to God that there is little loss of life in this accident. May the Lord give place to the departed souls at His divine lotus feet and soon restore the health of the injured."
"State government must carry out a high-level probe into this incident to verify that such accidents never happen anywhere in the future."
