Hyderabad: Gandhi Hospital fire razes paediatric ward

Hyderabad: The entire post-operative paediatric ward on the third floor of Gandhi Hospital was completely burnt down on Thursday evening. No human casualties were reported as there were no patients in the ward, and as some neo-natal equipment was stored in the ward, the room had been locked by the hospital.

The fire started in the afternoon and it is suspected that it was due to a short circuit. No alarm was raised till the flames had engulfed the floor and a strong  smell of burning was noticed.

Dr Shravan Kumar, hospital superintendent, said there were fire extinguishers on every floor and they were used but that was not enough to control the fire.

A fire engine from the Musheerabad station was enough to bring the fire under control.

All the equipment kept in the locked post operative ward was completely burnt.

A senior doctor said there was one patient till last week. Since then, there was no admission.

He said there was expensive equipment stored in the ward, which is why it was locked and was not even opened for cleaning.

The hospital administration stated that there were three fire extinguishers on every floor and a fire drill is carried out regularly.

The strong burning smell emanating from the ward and that got senior doctors to act immediately and call the fire brigade.

Fire officer K. Venkatesh said, “We had carried three tanks to extinguish the fire but only one was used. We are now investigating the cause of the fire.”