Jaipur: Six patients have died, and five were critical after a major fire broke out in the neurosurgery ICU of the government-run SMS Hospital of Jaipur on Sunday late at night. The cause of the fire appears to be a short circuit, as per officials.
The relatives of the patients admitted to the ICU said that smoke started emanating from the electrical wires around 11:30 PM. A few moments later, flames erupted with sparks, and the ward filled with smoke. At the time of the incident, 11 patients were admitted to the ICU due to head injuries. Some patients were on ventilators, while others were on oxygen support.
The Jaipur Police Commissioner Biju George Joseph said, "Our FSL team's investigation will reveal the cause of the fire. At first glance, it appears to be a short circuit, but the final cause will only be determined after the FSL investigation. The death of 6 people has been confirmed… The remaining have been shifted to another ward and are under treatment.'
The deceased were identified as Pintu (from Sikar), Dilip (from Andhi, Jaipur), Shrinath, Rukmini, Khurma (all from Bharatpur), and Bahadur (from Sanganer, Jaipur), officials stated.
SMS Hospital Trauma Center In-charge Anurag Dhakad said that the fire started in the trauma ICU on the second floor and spread quickly, releasing toxic gases. “Our trauma center has two ICUs on the second floor: a trauma ICU and a semi-ICU. We had 24 patients there: 11 in the trauma ICU and 13 in the semi-ICU. A short circuit occurred in the trauma ICU, and the fire spread rapidly, releasing toxic gases,” he said.
Dhakad added that most of the patients in the ICU were comatose. “Our trauma center team, our nursing officers, and ward boys immediately rescued them on trolleys and brought as many patients as we could out of the ICU and shifted them to another location. Six of those patients were very critical; we tried very hard to revive them with CPR, but they couldn't be saved,” he said.
On the other hand, the relatives of the deceased accused the hospital of negligence and staged a protest outside the hospital.
Omprakash, the son of deceased Pintu's maternal uncle, said, “We informed the staff about the fire as soon as smoke started coming out, but no one paid attention for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, all the doctors in the ICU fled. The fire spread throughout the ward within minutes; my brother was also inside. Pintu was shifted out of the room an hour and a half after the incident. His body was not burned by the fire, but his face had turned black due to the smoke in the room. When they took Pintu downstairs, there was no doctor there.'
Jogendra, son of another deceased Rukmini of Bharatpur, said with a choked voice that his mother was about to recover, but this tragedy claimed her life. According to Jogendra, there were 15-16 people inside when the fire broke out.
Jogendra said that during the fire, he and his brother searched for their mother for about an hour, but no one came to help.
“No one rescued my mother. There was so much smoke in the ward that nothing was visible. My elder brother borrowed a flashlight from the hospital staff and found and brought out my mother,” he said.
His elder brother, Sheru, went upstairs from the back after an hour and pulled his mother out. Sheru said that the fire was so intense that within a few minutes the plastic pipes installed in the ward started melting and dripping.
Meanwhile, the Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma ordered an investigation into the incident on Monday. A committee, chaired by Iqbal Khan, Commissioner, Medical Education Department, has been formed for the investigation. This committee will investigate the causes of the fire, the hospital management's response to the fire, the firefighting arrangements at the Trauma Centre and SMS Hospital, the safety and evacuation of patients in the event of a fire, and the measures to protect the hospital from such fires in the future and prevent recurrence, and submit a report.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over the tragedy. In a post on X, he said, "The loss of lives due to a fire tragedy at a hospital in Jaipur, Rajasthan, is deeply saddening. Condolences to those who have lost their loved ones. May the injured recover soon.
(Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by FPJ's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
