It was business as usual at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on Sunday, a day after a major fire broke out in the teaching block of the hospital.
“Today [Sunday], our emergency department, laboratories are fully functional and the patients who were evacuated as a precautionary measure were shifted back to their respective wards,” said a doctor.
A release issued by AIIMS on Sunday stated that all out-patient departments and emergency services continued to run normally and all scheduled surgeries were performed.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan reviewed the situation along with senior AIIMS officials and faculty members.
Inquiry initiated
Thirty-four fire tenders were pressed into service to contain the blaze suspected to have started in the microbiology laboratory on the second floor on Saturday. No causalities were reported.
“The AIIMS administration has initiated an internal inquiry to look into the cause of the fire. The hospital area has not been affected by the fire,” read the release.
It added that the hospital has a fire-prevention system in place. “There are fire personnel deployed round-the-clock with firefighting safety systems being regularly tested, including clearance of fire exits and corridors. Awareness of fire fighting systems among staff is conducted regularly,” the statement added.
Meanwhile, AIIMS officials also held a meeting with all heads of departments and administrative staff to assess the situation for full restoration of lab services as soon as possible so that patient care does not suffer. “Despite being a holiday, several doctors and other medical staff opted to work on Sunday to ensure that patients were not inconvenienced and normalcy is restored as soon as possible. On Saturday too, our medical staff worked with the rescue staff to ensure that there was no break in healthcare services,” said an AIIMS Resident Doctors’ Association member.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia also visited AIIMS.
Counselling dates
AIIMS has rescheduled the counselling dates for MBBS programme from August 20-21 to August 26-27.
Online registrations for counselling started on Sunday and can be done till 5 p.m. on August 21, a notice issued by the hospital read.
