The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Fire in neurosurgery block of GH

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Wednesday, Nov 19, 2008
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Fire in neurosurgery block of GH

Special Correspondent

Intensive care unit suffered some damage

PHOTO: M. VEDHAN

inevitable wait: Patients from ward 11 in the Institute of Neurology block in the Government General Hospital waiting to be shifted to another ward after a fire broke out in the ICU for head injuries on Tuesday night. —

CHENNAI: A fire broke out in the intensive care unit for head injuries in the neurosurgery block of Government General Hospital in the city on Tuesday night.

No one was injured though the ICU suffered some damage, hospital authorities said. Two fire tenders were pressed into service to put out the fire.

The fire, suspected to have been started from the air-conditioning unit of the ICU, was noticed around 9.45 p.m.

Hospital authorities said that about 60-70 patients in the adjacent general ward, where patients are transferred post-surgery, were shifted to the wards in the new twin tower building.

An hour after the fire, around a dozen patients were still waiting in the yard outside the building as hospital employees were trying to find space to accommodate them.

The Institute of Neurology, a tertiary care centre at the GH, receives the largest number of head injury victims among hospitals in the city. It is not uncommon to see patients lying on the floor in the overcrowded general ward.

The neurosurgery ward is housed in one of the relatively older buildings. Hospital staff alleged that ever since the new blocks were inaugurated at the GGH, scant attention was paid to the older buildings.

Senior hospital authorities and dean T.P. Kalaniti, who surveyed the damage, however, denied the allegations and said that the old buildings were also being maintained properly.

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