’Deeply Anguished,’ tweets PM Modi after 22 killed in fire at Bhubaneswar hospital

New Delhi, 18 Oct 2016: Prime Minister Narendra Modi voiced "deep anguish" at the loss of lives in a massive blaze at a hospital in Bhubaneshwar, calling it "mind-numbing".

 

"Deeply anguished by the loss of lives in the hospital fire in Odisha. The tragedy is mind-numbing. My thoughts are with bereaved families," PM Modi said on microblogging website Twitter.

 

"Spoke to Minister @JPNadda (Health Minister) & asked him to facilitate transfer of all those injured to AIIMS. Hope the injured recover quickly."

 

"Also spoken to Minister @dpradhanbjp and asked him to ensure all possible help to the injured and affected," he said in a series of tweets.

 

At least 22 patients were killed and over 20 injured in a fire that broke out at the Sum Hospital here on Monday evening, in one of the worst such incidents involving a medical facility in Odisha.

 

The blaze was suspected to have been triggered by an electric short circuit in the dialysis ward on the first floor of the private hospital which spread to the nearby Intensive Care Unit.

 

The commissionerate of police and fire brigade personnel along with volunteers and hospital staff launched a massive rescue operation as more than 500 indoor patients were trapped in the building, hospital officials said.

 

At least seven fire tenders were pressed into service to control the blaze and over a dozen ambulances deployed to shift the critical patients to other hospitals. Many patients were rescued by breaking window panes, an eyewitness said. In 2011, a major blaze had engulfed AMRI Hospital in Kolkata, killing 89 people, including 85 patients.

 

Meanwhile, the state government has ordered a high-level probe by the Director, Medical Education and Training, into the incident. State’s Health Minister Atanu S Nayak said stringent action will be taken if the hospital authorities were found guilty of negligence.