A fire broke out at a private hospital in Maharashtra's Aurangabad district on Monday, prompting a frantic evacuation of patients.
While no loss of life was reported, a few patients endured suffocation owing to the billowing plumes of smoke, said medical sources.
The blaze occurred in the basement of the Manik Hospital and Research Center in Aurangabad city between 11:00 and 11: 30 a.m. Within minutes of the blaze, plumes of smoke were seen rising up to the first floor and threatened to engulf the hospital building. It was brought under control within an hour, said fire department sources.
“All 33 patients undergoing treatment on the first floor were swiftly evacuated to nearby city hospitals. Some of them were in a critical condition, on ventilators. But the evacuation process, through corridors and stairways, was smooth and rapid and precluded any adverse situation,” said Dr. Makarand Kanjalkar, a general physician attached with the hospital, to The Hindu .
More than 20 ambulances were pressed into service to move the patients to a safe remove. Dr. Kanjalkar said that the hospital staffs were safe and that the fire was checked before it could spread to any of the upper floors.
“The hospital strictly adheres to fire safety norms. Of late, some work was going on in the basement. So, we are checking whether the blaze could have originated from some combustible materials there,” he said, adding that the damage to property was also being ascertained.
District administration sources said that a probe was underway to ascertain the exact cause of the accident.
