The fire erupted at around 3.25 am on Friday. It claimed the lives of at least 13 patients admitted in the ICU ward.
Mumbai| In yet another heart-wrenching incident from Maharashtra, 13 patients have died due to fire in the ICU ward of Vijay Vallabh Covid Center located in Virar West of Palghar district of Maharashtra. These include 4 women. There were 15 patients in the ICU at the time of the accident and 90 patients were admitted in the entire hospital. Of these, 21 patients with oxygen support have been shifted to another hospital.
The fire erupted at around 3.25 am on Friday. Though the fire was controlled within an hour, it claimed the lives of at least 13 patients admitted in the ICU ward. According to the hospital administration, the fire was caused due to a short circuit in the AC. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has ordered an inquiry into the incident.
Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray orders an inquiry into the fire incident at Vijay Vallabh COVID care hospital, Virar: Chief Minister's Office
— ANI (@ANI) April 23, 2021
Family members allege negligence
Meanwhile, the family members of the patients allege that when the fire broke out, the hospital staff left the patients inside and ran outside. In such a situation, the families themselves tried to go inside and evacuate the patients. According to reports, two nurses were present in the ICU at the time of the accident. The CEO of the hospital, Dilip Shah, claimed that there were doctors in the hospital at night. But when he was asked how much total staff was on duty at the time of the accident, he could not give the correct figures.
This is a big accident. Those found responsible won't be spared. The government will provide financial assistance of Rs 5 lakhs each to the families of those who lost their lives: Maharashtra Minister Eknath Shinde on Virar hospital fire incident pic.twitter.com/Gzku3m65Ff
— ANI (@ANI) April 23, 2021
Not the first hospital mishap
This is not the first time that such a mishap has taken place in Maharashtra. Earlier on Wednesday, a major accident took place in a government hospital in Nashik where oxygen tank leaked leading to shortage of the critical gas to Covid-19 patients. It took 30 minutes to fix the leakage and due to this, 24 patients died. At the time when the oxygen supply was stopped, 171 patients were on oxygen and 67 patients were on ventilator.
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