24 PERSONNEL RESCUED FROM FIRE AT HOSPITAL, NONE INJURED

NEW DELHI: A fire broke out at the Employee State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) Hospital in west Delhi’s Basaidarapur, near Punjabi Bagh, on Thursday afternoon, trapping over 24 medical personnel. Senior fire department officials said the blaze was doused within an hour of getting the alert, by a team of 20 firefighters in seven fire tenders. No casualty or injury was reported in the incident.

Delhi Fire Services (DFS) chief Atul Garg said the hospital campus has two buildings – one three-storey and the other sevenstorey. The fire broke out on the second floor of the three-storey building, which did not have any general wards or rooms.

“There were no patients on the floor where the fire started -it only has an operation theatre and an intensive care unit, which did not have any patients at the time of the incident. Nearly 25 nursing staff and attendants were trapped on the floor. All of them were safely rescued,” said Garg, adding that the fire control room was informed about the fire at 1.17pm.

ESIC hospital authorities could not be reached for a comment.

Divisional fire officer MK Chattopadhyay said the blaze originated from the UPS room near the operation theatre. “Black smoke had engulfed the entire floor and medical staffers were trapped there. We safely rescued them and controlled the blaze,” Chattopadhyay said.

“The fire may have started due to a short-circuit in the electric circuit -- there was no mischief involved. No case has been registered,” said deputy commissioner of police (west) Urvija Goel.

This is the second case of fire in a hospital in the past 15 days. On May 5, nearly 26 patients, including 17 Covid patients -some of them on oxygen support -- were trapped after a fire broke out at the UK Nursing Home in west Delhi’s Vikaspuri.