Four patients among 8 killed in Jabalpur hospital fire
BHOPAL / In a massive fire break that took place in a private hospital, at least 8 people were killed and nine were severely injured in Jabalpur of Madhya Pradesh on Monday.
The four deceased were patients who were under treatment in the hospital, the three were hospital staffers and one was an attendant. All the injured have been shifted to a nearby hospital for treatment, two of them are in ICU (incentive critical unit).
The incident took place in New Life Multispeciality hospital located in the Vijay Nagar area of the city at around 2:30 pm.
Superintendent of Police Jabalpur Siddharth Bahuguna said that the fire erupted in the private hospital near Damoh Naka under the Gorakhpur police station area in the afternoon.
The deceased are identified as Veer Singh (30), Swati Verma(24), Mahima Jatav (23), Durgesh Singh (42), Tanmay Vishwakarma (19), Anusuyiya Yadav (55), Sonu Yada (26) and one other.
The fire was broken out in a generator set up on the ground floor of the three-storied building of the hospital to sparking due to voltage fluctuation, a local source said. Any authentic statement has not come regarding the incident from the hospital authority so far.
“It was a massive fire, and our teams rescued all the people trapped inside the hospital. A short circuit could be the reason for the fire,” a police officer also said.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has announced an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakhs each for the next of kin of the deceased. Chouhan also said that he ordered the divisional commissioner of Jabalpur to conduct an inquiry and no one would be left, who would find guilty in the case. The CM also informed reporters that the injured have been shifted to a hospital and the government would bear the expenses of their treatment.
In a tweet, the CM said he is constantly in touch with the local administration and collector. “The Chief Secretary has been directed to keep an eye on the entire matter. Every effort is being made for relief and rescue,” he added.
According to sources, the hospital building has no amenities regarding safety which are mandatory for government approvals to run a hospital. Even though the NOC of fire safety has not been granted to the hospital, it was running. The incident has given the show away of the government order of fire safety audit that was issued after the state capital government hospital Hamidia broke out in which several people were killed.
