Health Secretary hints at ‘sabotage’ behind SSKM fire, probe on

The fire that broke out around 10 pm at the CT scan department of the Emergency Ward on the first floor of the hospital was brought under control within an hour and no casualty was reported, said officials.

According to police, nine fire tenders were pressed into service to put out the fire.

The hospital, meanwhile, ordered an internal inquiry by a five-member committee to look into the causes leading to fire and give suggestions on how such incidents could be prevented from taking place in the future, said officials.

From oxygen pipelines to AC machines, all are being examined, they said. A detective department team of the Kolkata Police also examined the spot Friday.

“Fire and forensic audits are being carried out to check for any sabotage. A thorough investigation will be carried out. Primarily it doesn’t look like any technical fault. The investigation will ascertain the rest. As far as services are concerned, there are three CT scans at the hospital so it won’t impact the services,” said Nigam.

On November 21, 2016, a major fire broke out at the hospital’s Ronald Ross building library. Before that, a small fire was reported on March 21, 2012, at the emergency ward of the hospital.

“No services have been affected, but a bit of relocation was done. People are facing no issues with CT scans as there are three more CT scan rooms. In the room where the ultrasound is done, we have seen some water leakage so it has been divided into sections,” said Manimoy Bandyopadhyay, Director of IPGMER & SSKM Hospital.

“The way doctors, junior doctors and staff tackled the situation last night, they deserve appreciation. It is a lesson for any institute that how in half an hour a catastrophe can be averted,” said Bandyopadhyay.

According to sources, nearly 25-30 patients were shifted to Trauma Care and Mackenzie Ward after the fire broke out.

An official at the hospital claimed that seconds before the fire they heard a loud sound and after that, the floor was engulfed by smoke.

The fire that broke out could be because of a possible electrical short circuit in the air conditioning unit on the first floor of the three-storied building, theofficialsaid.

with PTI INPUTS