Koraput: A fire broke out inside the ICU of the Maternal and Child Care Unit of Koraput Saheed Laxman Nayak Medical College and Hospital on Friday.
The fire department disclosed that a short circuit in the panel board caused the fire. Consequently, all newborns in the ICU wards were promptly moved to the general ICU ward, and the maternity mothers were relocated as well. Amidst this, a sense of panic has spread across the medical college premises, accompanied by numerous threats.
A sudden fire engulfed the newborn ICU ward, filling it with smoke and crackling noises for 30-40 minutes. When medical authorities, doctors, nurses, and security guards reached the affected ward, they hesitated to act immediately. Amidst this chaos, mothers in the maternity ward fled into the darkness to save themselves, creating a harrowing spectacle.
After a while, the health workers took the newborn babies to the general ICU ward one at a time. In such circumstances, parents may worry about the safety of their children and the risk of babies being switched. Furthermore, when authorities do not provide clear information on whether the babies’ conditions are critical or stable, it raises various concerns among people. This is because the ICU ward is reserved for those children who have extraordinary health conditions.
It took over 30 minutes to transfer from the site of the incident to the ICU, and more than 20 minutes to move the required emergency equipment from the neonatal ICU. In light of this, there are numerous concerns and hopes for the infants’ health conditions. Questions have arisen about how a short circuit could occur in such a critical ward of a large hospital and why the fire extinguisher was not employed immediately to extinguish the fire. By the time the fire department was notified, the fire had already been put out.
