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Journalism of Courage
About 30 new-born babies had an escape even as fire broke out in the ICU at the Jorhat Medical College Hospital Tuesday evening, with the authorities saying not a single baby was hurt in the incident.
“It was a minor fire, with the capacitor of a wall-fan in the nurse’s duty room of the new-born babies’ ICU that had suddenly caught fire around midnight,” Dr Bobyjeet Goswami, Superintendent of the JMC Hospital said over the telephone. The fire, followed by smoke emanating from the wall-fan triggered off panic, with mothers of several new-born babies rushing out of the ward, reports said.
This was the third time that fire had broken out in the maternity ward of the hospital in the past two years. Twenty-six new-born babies had a miraculous escape when fire had broken out in the special care unit of the same hospital in March 2012. Last year a baby had a miraculous escape when a baby warmer had caught fire in the same hospital.
Dr Goswami said though the fire was promptly brought under control and extinguished, an inquiry has been instituted to be conducted by a panel of three members which has been asked to submit its report within 24 hours.
Established in 2006 in Jorhat, the hometown of Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi, the Jorhat Medical College Hospital often hits headlines due to accidents allegedly occurring due to poor construction work. On several occasions portions of ceilings had fallen off, while a boundary wall had also collapsed a few years ago.
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