A fire broke out on the first floor of the Nehru Hospital in Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) in Chandigarh during the early hours of Tuesday. PGIMER houses several wards and administrative offices. The flames engulfed a computer room on the first floor following which smoke was seen rising on the higher floors. The fire tenders reached the spot immediately and brought the fire under control. With swift action of the hospital staff, all patients were shifted to safe zones, including those admitted in the emergency ward of the Hospital.
The hospital administration evacuated all the patients as soon as the fire broke out due to which not a single patient lost their lives in the incident. The situation is under control now, said officials. The cause of the fire hasn't been ascertained yet, reported news agency ANI. A committee has been set up to monitor the entire situation.
The fire and emergency services, disaster management departments, police and the PGI hospital's in-house emergency response system immediately swung into action as soon as the fire was reported.
An official of the Disaster Management Department said, "All patients were safely evacuated, we cleared the ICU (Intensive Care Unit), respiratory ICU ... Our rescue team worked in coordination with the police, the fire department and PGI departments," reported news agency PTI.
Dr Vivek Lal, Director of PGIMER, while talking to the news agency ANI said, "Fire broke out in the computer room which spread further. The administration of the hospital immediately responded and evacuated all the patients safely... Not a single patient has lost his/ her life... Chandigarh administration immediately swung into action, fire tenders reached the spot and the fire was doused... The situation is under control... We have started the restoration process also."
Civil Defense Department official Sanjeev Kohli told ANI, "We received info that a fire broke out on the first floor of the Nehru Hospital. We immediately reached the spot and the situation is now under control... The reason behind the fire is yet not clear... All the people inside the hospital have been evacuated."