Jaipur : 3 fire incidents in a month at SMS Hospital raise concern

Jaipur: Frequent fire incidents at Sawai Man Singh Hospital and medical college are putting a question mark on the safety of the patients and the healthcare staff. At 11.05pm on Friday, Ghat Gate fire station received a call from Sawai Man Singh Hospital, informing the fireman on duty that operation theatre at second floor of the building had went up in flames. It is for the third time in a month that firemen received such calls from SMS Hospital and SMS medical college.

Thankfully, when the incident happened, there was no surgery taking place at the OT. The incident created chaos and panic in the hospital. Attendants admitted in 3-AB ward were seen rushing their patients as it is the closest ward from the OT which caught fire.

Taking serious note of the frequent fire incidents at SMS Hospital, health minister Raghu Sharma sought report from the hospital on it. The cause of fire is yet to be ascertained. Initially, the hospital administration did not rule out the possibility of short circuit causing a fire. “We have constituted a committee comprising head of the department (surgery), electric division and one additional superintendent,” Dr DS Meena, medical superintendent, SMS Hospital told TOI.

At the place inside the OT, where the fire broke out, was full of items which are not in use anymore. It was the trash and discarded items used in procedures, which caught fire. “How it happened, we are still trying to figure it out. The committee, which we have constituted will find out,” said Dr Meena. Hospital administration is suspecting that the fire may have been triggered by short circuit, due to high load of power supply through old wiring in the hospital. Hospital administration claimed that almost 80 years have passed to SMS Hospital and still, the electric wiring in some part of the building is quite old. The hospital claimed that from time to time, the old electric cables have been replaced, but still there are portions in the hospital where the old electric wiring needs to be replaced to prevent such incidents.

Frequent incidents of fire in the hospital are a cause of concern.

“It was a major fire. It took 40 minutes for eight fire tenders to douse the fire. It was challenging as the fire broke out on second floor. While dousing the fire, one of our firemen Kamal Bairwa got injured,” said Jagdish Phulwaria, chief fire officer, Jaipur municipal corporation. Phulwaria alleged that the SMS Hospital lacks proper fire safety measures.