In yet another fire at a medical facility in Maharashtra, four patients died in a blaze at a hospital in Mumbra area near Mumbai in the early hours of Wednesday.
Fire broke out at about 3.40 a.m. on Wednesday morning at the Prime Criticare Hospital in the Mumbra-Kausa area in Thane district, according to officials from the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC). The hospital had no COVID-19 patients.
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Three fire engines and five ambulances were rushed to the spot after the hospital reported the fire which was extinguished in a few hours.
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According to local MLA and State Housing Minister Jitendra Awhad, the fire broke out due to a short circuit in a meter room of the hospital. “A high-level inquiry has been ordered to look into the reasons behind this fire and whether any safety rules were violated,” Mr. Awhad said.
He added that ₹5 lakh compensation would be given to the kin of the deceased, and the injured would be given ₹1 lakh each. Around 20 patients, including six from the Intensive Care Unit, were evacuated and taken to other hospitals.
Thane guardian Minister and State Urban Development Minister Eknath Shinde said that the fire did not start in the ICU, and it had been observed that the patients had died due to smoke inhalation while they were shifted.
“An additional ₹5 lakh will be given to the kin of those who died from the Thane Municipal Corporation, and ₹1 lakh to those were injured will also be given,” he said. The enquiry into the incident would involve the police and Thane Municipal Corporation officials, Mr. Shinde said.
He added that directions had been given to conduct fire, structural and oxygen audit of every hospital within the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.
A week ago, 15 COVID-19 patients died in a fire in a hospital in the Virar area, around 50 km from Mumbai. On April 21, 24 COVID-19 patients lost their lives at the Dr. Zakir Hussain Hospital run by the Nasik Municipal Corporation after an oxygen tanker leaked. In March, fire broke out at a COVID hospital in Mumbai’s suburban Bhandup, which claimed nine lives. In January, 10 infants died after a fire broke out at a special newborn care unit of the Bhandara district hospital in the Bhandara district of Vidarbha.