Emergency room halted after fireat AIIMS hospital

New Delhi: A minor blaze broke out on Monday morning in a storeroom at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital's Emergency Department building - the second fire in the AIIMS premises in around 10 days, however, this one was contained to one room but set off a scramble among hospital workers to shift patients.

Significantly, no casualties or injuries were reported and the fire was traced to a room adjacent to the Emergency ward of the building and was eventually doused.

Several patients were wheeled out of the Emergency room in a rush by fire officials and hospital attendants. For a while, they were cared for outside the emergency ward before being shifted to the opposite building at the Trauma Centre.

According to the fire department, they received a call at 5.04 am about a blaze in the operation theatre of the Emergency Department and seven fire tenders were rushed to the hospital.

"A call at 5.04 am was received by DFS that fire in OT of the Emergency dept in AIIMS, 7 fire tenders rushed and fire brought under control very quickly, fire was in storeroom adjacent to OT, No one injured," tweeted Atul Garg, Director, DFS.

Officials also said that the blaze was brought under control very quickly.

Delhi Police, in their press statement, said they received a PCR call at Hauz Khas police station at around 5.15 am about the blaze and on reaching AIIMS, sparking and smoke were observed in a dummy room near the casualty area.

While the emergency room had been shut for most of Monday due to the firefighting and cooling operations, it was reopened for patients by late evening.

An official from the fire department told Millennium Post that non-maintenance of machines and continuously running machines might have gone above capacity — leading to the fire.

Meanwhile, another minor blaze was reported at Safdarjung hospital. "Another fire call received @ 7.58 AM that fire in Near canteen, S J. Hospital 3 fire tenders rushed to the SJ hosp. This Fire was also brought under control very quickly , No injuries," tweeted Garg.

In fact, a little more than a week ago, a major blaze at the Convergence Block of the AIIMS hospital gutted the Covid lab housed there.

When asked about these fire events coming one after the other in a span of 10 days, officials at the hospital said, "We are taking all measures so that something like this doesn't take place. All buildings are being checked. We are also in touch with the Delhi Fire Department for further steps."

Delhi Fire Services, since 2019, more than 100 calls of fire in institutional buildings including hospitals, dispensaries. As per data accessed by Millennium Post, in 2019, about 66 such fire calls in institutional buildings such as hospitals, nursing homes, dispensaries were received by DFS. Last year, 38 such calls were there whereas, in 2021, nearly half a dozen calls were received by the fire department.