Jaipur hospital fire: Removed official says he warned about safety issues at trauma centre

Days before the devastating fire at the trauma centre of Jaipur's Sawai Man Singh Hospital claimed six lives, the now-removed in-charge of the unit, Dr Anurag Dhakad, had warned higher authorities about electric current in the walls, leaking roofs and serious faults in the electrical panels.

He also claimed that no concrete action was taken to address the alarming situation.

A massive fire blazed through the neuro ICU on the second floor of the trauma centre on Sunday night, killing six of the 11 patients on critical care support. Fourteen patients from another ICU on the same floor were also evacuated, and two of them later died.

However, the hospital administration has maintained that the deaths due to fire were six.

Taking action in the matter, the state government removed Dr Sushil Bhati, superintendent of SMS Hospital, and Dhakad, trauma centre in-charge and nodal officer, from their posts on Monday and replaced them with Dr Mrinal Joshi and Dr BL Yadav, respectively. The hospital's executive engineer, Mukesh Singhal, was also suspended. The tender of the fire safety firm has been cancelled, and legal proceedings have been initiated against the company.

SMS Hospital is Rajasthan's biggest government health facility, treating patients from across the state and elsewhere.

Dhakad claimed that he wrote several letters to the SMS Hospital superintendent and other authorities concerned multiple times, cautioning that poor maintenance and ongoing construction work had made the trauma centre unsafe.

The most recent letter, he said, was written on October 3, just two days before the fire, which raised concerns about the duct and electrical panel.

"The ongoing construction work of the neuro operation theatre on the upper floor has damaged the VRV system, duct and electrical panel. There is a strong possibility of these being further damaged by falling debris. If any of this machinery is damaged, full responsibility will lie with the concerned department," the letter mentioned.

Last month, too, he wrote a letter and warned that rainwater seepage from the construction area above was creating dangerous conditions inside the operating theatres.

"Due to leakage, dampness has developed, and because of this, current is spreading through the OT walls and switchboards. This poses a risk of mishap to doctors, employees and patients," he said in the letter dated September 9.

"I had written multiple letters to the higher authorities regarding various serious issues pertaining to maintenance and potential dangers," he told PTI.

He said that it was for the higher authorities and departments concerned to take action on the issues raised in the letters, but no concrete action was taken.

A senior official said an inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the cause of the fire and to examine whether prior warnings about electrical and safety hazards were ignored.

Those who died in the incident were Pintu, Dilip, Bahadur, Shrinath, Rukmini and Kusuma.

The state government has announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh each for the families of the victims.

The family members and attendants of the patients on Monday alleged that the hospital staff ran away when the fire broke out, leaving the patients in the middle of the fire and smoke.

Some of them claimed that they had alerted the staff about suspicions of fire, but they ignored it. Moments later, the fire broke out in the store room of the ICU.

Anguished relatives also held a brief protest and alleged that authorities were negligent, ignoring warnings and fleeing instead of rescuing the ailing and sick.

Among them was Rukmini's son Joginder.

"My mother was recovering and was supposed to be fine. But this disaster happened. When the smoke started, there were 15 to 16 people in the ward. People were trying to evacuate their own patients," he said on Monday.

"No one helped my mother. My elder brother grabbed a torch from the hospital staff, found our mother, and brought her out. No one went to help her. I could not save her and could not do anything," he told reporters.

Omprakash, whose brother Pintu was killed, said the fire spread rapidly.

"My brother was still inside. It took an hour and a half before they managed to pull Pintu out of the room. His body was not burned, but his face was completely blackened from the smoke. When we took him outside, there were no doctors present," he alleged.

However, officials maintained hospital staff and attendants evacuated patients and wheeled them outside the trauma centre, which is in front of the main hospital building on busy Tonk Road.

Vikas, a ward boy who was at the scene, told PTI that he and other staff members rescued as many people as they could before the billowing flames and smoke made it impossible for them to do so.

The fire was eventually brought under control only after about two hours.

CM Bhajanlal Sharma visited the hospital at night and held discussions with the officers. He instructed them to make all possible arrangements for the safety and proper treatment of the patients.

Later, several ministers as well as opposition party leaders visited the hospital.

PM Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were among the other leaders who expressed deep condolences.