Health dept orders high-level probe into Medical College fire

Kolkata: The state Health department has ordered a high-level enquiry into the fire that took place at the pharmacy situated on the ground floor of the MCH building at Calcutta Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) on Wednesday.

A 6-member committee has been constituted by the Health department to ascertain the cause of the fire. Minister of state for Health Chandrima Bhattacharya, who rushed to the spot following the incident, said that the real cause of the fire will be determined after the Health department conducts a probe. The committee comprises Principal of CMCH Dr Asish Basu, MSVP Dr Indranil Biswas, HoDs of various departments like Cardiology, ENT and Medicine and the Chief engineer of PWD (electrical).

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee inquired about the incident and issued necessary instructions to the Health department, so that the patients who were there in various departments housed at the MCH building can be safely evacuated.

Rogi Kalyan Samity Chairman Dr Nirmal Maji, who went to the spot immediately after the incident, hinted at sabotage behind the fire. He said that there was no fault in the electricity connection of the building, as some renovation work had been performed a few days ago.

"I have talked to the civil and electrical engineers of the Public Works Department (PWD), who have assured that there is no chance of electrical short circuit as renovation work had been conducted recently. It appears to be a case of sabotage. We suspect some people who might have been involved in the incident," Maji told reporters.

As many as 250 patients from various departments at the MCH building were evacuated and shifted to other departments. According to Dr Maji, some of the patients were taken to the MCH hub, while some others were shifted to the Emergency building and Ezra building. ICCU patients were taken to the recently built critical care unit.

According to a senior official of the CMCH, the loss caused due to the damage of medicines, including some high-priced ones, would be in crores. The Health department is yet to confirm the extent of the loss.

A huge amount of medicines including costly cancer drugs, antibiotics, cylinders, bandages, cotton and saline bottles were stored in the pharmacy.

Some senior officials of the hospital apprehend that there may be a crisis of medicines in the hospital due to the incident. A huge amount of life saving drugs were damaged in the fire. The medicines which were brought out of the Pharmacy department cannot be used, as they might have also been affected by the heat. The pharmacy that had caught fire used to supply drugs to all the departments of the hospital.

Bhattacharya has however assured that there will be no crisis of medicines in the hospital, as enough is stored in the Central Medical Store. She also said that junior doctors and health workers have done a commendable job by evacuating the patients from the MCH building in the hour of crisis.

It has been learnt that 90 percent of medicine has been damaged in the fire. The hospital authorities have decided to restrict admission at the general medicine ward on Thursday, while in the Hematology and other departments patients would be gradually shifted after the cooling down process gets completed.