Hospital fire: All necessary support is being given to Odisha, says JP Nadda

New Delhi: Union Health Minister J P Nadda today said the Centre is providing all necessary support to Odisha where at least 22 patients died and several were injured in a fire that broke out at the Sum Hospital in Bhubaneswar.

Nadda said that he has already spoken to the AIIMS in Bhubaneswar and asked it to provide all necessary help to the patients.

"Deeply saddened by the fire incident in Inst. of Medi Sciences & SUM hospital Bhubaneswar. My condolences rest with the bereaved families. "I have spoken to Director, AIIMS Bhubaneswar to provide all necessary support and help the patients in the best way possible," Nadda tweeted after the incident. He said that the Union Health secretary C K Mishra has already spoken to Odisha Health department officials and was in "constant touch" with them.

"Union Health Secretary has spoken to the Principal Secy Health, Orissa. Officials of @MoHFW_INDIA are in constant touch with state officials," he said in his tweet. Prime Minister Narendra Modi tonight voiced "deep anguish" at the loss of lives in a massive blaze at a hospital in Bhubaneshwar, calling it "mind-numbing".

"Deeply anguished by the loss of lives in the hospital fire in Odisha. The tragedy is mind-numbing. My thoughts are with bereaved families," Modi said on microblogging website twitter.

"Spoke to Minister @JPNadda (Health Minister) & asked him to facilitate transfer of all those injured to AIIMS. Hope the injured recover quickly.

"Also spoken to Minister @dpradhanbjp and asked him to ensure all possible help to the injured and affected," he said in a series of tweets.

The fire was suspected to have been triggered by an electric short circuit in the dialysis ward on the first floor of the private hospital which spread to the nearby Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

The fire rapidly spread to other areas on the same floor of the four-storeyed hospital building. The commissionerate of police and fire brigade personnel along with volunteers and hospital staff launched a massive rescue operation as more than 500 indoor patients were trapped in the building, hospital officials said.

At least seven fire tenders were pressed into service to control the blaze and over a dozen ambulances deployed to shift the critical patients to other hospitals.