Fire breaks out in Nehru Hospital block of PGIMER-Chandigarh, patients evacuated to safety

Chandigarh: More than 400 patients were evacuated to safety after a fire broke out on one of the floors of PGIMER-Chandigarh's Nehru Hospital block in the early hours of Tuesday, officials said. The fire broke out in the UPS system of the computer room on the first floor, with the smoke making its way up to the higher floors, they said.

Fire tenders were immediately pressed into service and brought the blaze under control after some time, the officials added.

The fire and emergency services and the disaster management departments, police and the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research's (PGIMER) own emergency response system immediately swung into action after the fire was reported.

PGIMER and disaster management department officials said all the patients were immediately evacuated and shifted to safe zones and relocated to other wards.

"We evacuated 424 patients. We have an extension building in Nehru Hospital where some of them were shifted ... Everyone worked as a team in PGI with the Chandigarh Union Territory administration's support," PGIMER Medical Superintendent Vipin Koushal told a news agency.

"There was no loss of life. But damage to property has taken place due to the fire and restoration work is being started," he said.

The window panes on some of the upper floors were broken to let the smoke out and prevent any suffocation incidents, the officials said.

A disaster management department official said they received information about the fire on a floor of the institute's Nehru Hospital block.

"All patients were safely evacuated, we cleared the ICU (Intensive Care Unit), respiratory ICU ... Our rescue team worked in coordination with the police, the fire department and PGI departments," he said.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known, he added.

The Nehru Hospital houses several wards and intensive care units, including male and female medical wards, gynaecology ward, haematology ICU, respiratory ICU and renal transplant unit.