A fire broke out in the basement of a 10-storey hospital building in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad city on Sunday causing thick smoke in the premises, following which 106 patients were evacuated as a precautionary measure, officials said.
There was no report of any casualty in the blaze which erupted at around 4.30 am in Rajasthan Hospital, located in the city’s Sahibaug are, they said.
A four-wheeler parked in the basement of the facility was partially damaged, a fire official said.
Due to the renovation work underway at the hospital, several items stored in the basement caught fire and caused massive smoke, the official said.
The state government later said all hospitals will be inspected in view of this fire.
It took about eight hours to control the blaze because of the massive smoke in two basements of the building and difficulties faced by the fire fighters in entering one of the basements, he said.
The hospital is run by a charitable trust.
The fire broke out at around 4.30 am in the basement of Rajasthan Hospital, inspector M D Champavat from Sahibaug police station said, adding that heavy smoke emanated from the basement of the medical facility. While Champavat had earlier informed that 125 patients were evacuated, Deputy Commissioner of Police Kanan Desai said 106 patients admitted in the multi-storeyed building were shifted to other hospitals after the fire as a precautionary measure.
“Out of these patients, seven were critical and were admitted in the ICUs. No casualty has been reported,” she said.
The blaze erupted in the second basement of the 10-storey Rajasthan Hospital and a call was received at around 4.30 am, deputy chief fire officer Jayesh Khadia said.
Due to the ongoing renovation of the hospital, several items stored in the basement caught fire and caused massive smoke. Around two dozen fire fighting vehicles were rushed to the spot, he said.
“It took nearly eight hours to control the fire because of massive smoke and difficulties in getting entry to the affected areas. We managed to enter the first basement after ventilating smoke mechanically, but faced massive difficulties in entering the second basement,” Khadia said.
State health minister Rushikesh Patel said miscellaneous trash and scrap stored in the basement of the hospital caught fire likely due to a short circuit.
“All patients were shifted to safety. The Gujarat government will carry out inspection of all public and private hospital in view of the fire incident. The state government will again carry out inspection of all the hospitals with ICUs in multi-storeyed buildings,” Patel said.