Chennai: After a fire broke out at the medical equipment storage room at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in the city on Wednesday, safety measures have been intensified at RGGGH and other hospitals.
Sources said the Health department has directed heads of hospitals to immediately conduct a safety audit and take necessary measures.
There were no casualties during Wednesday’s incident, Health Minister Ma Subramanian and Health Secretary Dr J.Radhakrishnan told reporters later, after visiting the spot.
The room was located in the ground floor at the rear side of the hospital at old three-storeyed Tower-2 building. At least three oxygen cylinders, among several cylinders, kept in the storeroom exploded after the fire broke out due to suspected electrical short circuit.
About 63 patients, including three critically ill patients, were evacuated
from the first and second floors of the buildings, which also housed an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and post ICU wards.
The 63 evacuated included 33 people from the ICU. Others were from a post-ICU care unit and normal wards where treatment for Liver ailments was being provided.
‘The Nursing staff immediately shifted the 33 patients, including three from the ICU, out from the neurology ward in the second tower of the hospital, where the fire broke out. Also, 10 cylinders were taken out from the ward,’ Subramanian said.
More than ten fire fighting units and 50 personnel from the fire service
departments battled hard and brought the fire under control.