The massive fire which broke out at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi on Saturday, 17 August, has been doused completely, ANI reported quoting Delhi Fire Services and AIIMS Fire Division. The report added that no casualties or losses had occurred. However, a few samples and medical reports had reportedly been destroyed earlier.
“The fire is completely under control. Cooling operation is underway, they'll continue for some more time, the staff will be here to monitor that. No casualty has been reported,” Delhi Fire Service Director, Vipin Kental said, reported ANI.
The Delhi Police also announced on Sunday that an FIR has been filed against unknown people for alleged negligence, reported ANI.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also visited AIIMS on Sunday, and tweeted that investigations were going on to “ascertain reasons of fire.”
Dr Harsh Vardhan, Minister of Health and Family Welfare, personally monitored the efforts on-site towards extinguishing the fire and regarding patient care, reports added.
AIIMS Delhi had earlier said that as precautionary measure, the patients admitted in the adjoining AB Wing had been shifted out to other wings of the hospital temporarily. After the fire was doused, a statement from the hospital said, “It is expected that patients temporarily transferred from AB Wing will be shifted back by tomorrow.”
The statement also mentioned that Vardhan also discussed a need to conduct a special fire audit, but said that this was a regular exercise which would be done more comprehensively.
Patients have been shifted from AB ward.
(Photo: ANI)
Fire on First and Second Floors
The fire reportedly flared on the first and the second floor of the building, near the emergency ward, leading to patients being shifted to another ward.
The Microbiology Department's virology unit on the second floor of the teaching block has been completely gutted.
Sources said the fire spread to the Emergency Lab in the department of Lab Medicine, which is adjacent to the Microbiology Department's virology unit, where electricity work had been going on for some time and the cable and wire being used were kept, they said.
The fire moved downward to the first floor and also upward to the third and the fourth floor of the building, they said.
Some parts of the fifth floor were also affected, they added.
"The fire was brought under control within two hours," said a fire department official.
Short Circuit Led to Fire
According to reports, a short circuit led to the fire at the hospital.
As a safety measure, the hospital has shut its emergency lab, the super-speciality OPD ward and the AB1 ward.
A Delhi Fire Services official told PTI that they received a call of fire in the PC and Teaching Block of the hospital at around 5 PM. According to ANI, 34 fire tenders are at the spot.
Former finance minister Arun Jaitley is admitted at the ICU of the cardio-neuro centre, housed in a different building in the complex.
(With inputs from PTI and ANI.)
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