INDIA. Mumbai: With reports of incidents of fire in COVID-19 hospitals are being reported from different parts of the country, one more mishap of fire in a COVID-19 care centre was reported from Bhavnagar town of Gujarat on Wednesday.
A minor fire broke out due to a spark in a TV, at a hotel- turned-COVID care centre in Bhavnagar town, in the wee hours of Wednesday. However, the major mishap was averted since all the 68 patients were promptly evacuated by the hospital staff and fire brigade.
Bhavnagar Collector Gaurang Makwana told the “transcontinental Times” that all the 68 coronavirus patients at the centre were safe and the fire was brought under control immediately. Now the hospital has been sealed and no new admissions will be allowed. Besides, the police will conduct an inquiry with assistance from Forensic Science Laboratory.
The patients were on the third floor. The patients were safely evacuated and shifted to other hospitals, Senior Fire Officer of Bhavnagar Fire Brigade, Bharat Kanada said. The three-story “Generation X Hotel”, located around 170 km from the state capital-Gandhi Nagar, was converted into a COVID-19 Care Centre, a few months back, a private hospital. There was a stampede when the hospital caught fire. Patients were brought out in hurry. Many patients were on oxygen support. They were brought out with oxygen cylinders and immediately shifted to another hospital.
A series of mishaps
Maharashtra and neighbouring states have been witnessing incidents of fire and oxygen shortage/leakage in hospitals in the last few months. Ten 10 infants perished in a fire at a hospital in Bhandara in the Vidarbha region in Eastern Maharashtra, on January 09, 2021. This was followed by a fire in a COVID-19 facility at a mall in Bhandup in northeast Mumbai on March 26, 2011, in which 11 patients died. Four patients died in a fire at the Well Treat Multispeciality hospital, Wadi in Nagpur on April 09, 2021. 24 COVID patients died at a municipal hospital in Nashik on April 21, 2021, to asphyxiation following an oxygen leakage.13 COVID-19 Patients died in a fire at the Vijay Vallabh Hospital, Virar, near Mumbai on April 23, 2021. 14 patients and 2 staff nurses lost their lives in a fire at the Corona Care Ward at Patel Welfare Hospital in Bharuch city of Gujarat on April 30, 2021. 26 COVID patients died at the Government hospital in Goa on May 11, 2021, due to oxygen shortage.
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