At least 173 patients at Dhaka Shishu Hospital, many of them admitted to intensive care units, had to be evacuated on Friday afternoon after a fire broke out in a multi-storeyed block of the hospital, sending a shock wave among patients and their attendants.
The affected building housed several intensive care units where many children were on oxygen support. The fire forced many families of critically ill children to disconnect their oxygen supply and run away with them out of the building.
The fire, which the hospital authorities initially tried to put out on their own, soon spiralled out of control, filling corridors with black smoke and triggering panic among patients and their parents and relatives.
Still, it was just the beginning of the crisis, for when the fire service arrived to find that there was not enough water to fight the raging fire that broke out at around 1:45pm.
聽鈥楾here was a complete pandemonium. Everybody was trying to leave the hospital before one another with babies in their hands,鈥� said Nila, a mother of a five-month-old child.
Nila had to struggle to come out of the hospital carrying her son in her lap. The helpless mother joined scores of others sitting under the scorching sun while a heatwave was sweeping over the country.
聽鈥業 was so worried about getting baked in the sun with a severely dehydrated baby,鈥� said Nila.
Intensive care unit patients were languishing on the hospital terrace without any oxygen support around.
The fire started on the fourth floor at the cardiovascular intensive care unit on B-block.
The fire service believes the fire originated from an air conditioner in the intensive care unit. At least seven critical patients were in the ICU where the fire started.
Fire officials told 抖阴精品 that the hospital had only some fire extinguishers and lacked other fire-fighting facilities, such as fire hydrants.
聽鈥楩ire extinguishers are very primary equipment in fighting fire,鈥� said Lieutenant Colonel Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury, director for operations and maintenance, fire service.
聽鈥業n such hospitals, we need adequate fire hydrants and water reservoirs to control fire,鈥� he added.
The hospital had a water reservoir, but it helped very little as it did not have enough water.
The firefighters needed to arrange for water from the nearby National Institute of Mental Health and Hospital to fight the fire.
Jahangir Alam, director, Dhaka Shishu Hospital, admitted that there was not enough water in the reservoirs.
He, however, claimed that his staff members were trained in fire extinguishing and that there were enough fire extinguishers at the hospital.
The fire was put out at 2:39pm. The fire left many equipment damaged.
This was the second fire in three days to occur at the hospital, which is a popular destination for the treatment of children from across Bangladesh.
On April 16, a fire broke out in ward 5 of the hospital.
The hospital authorities formed a five-member committee to investigate the fire in three working days starting today.聽
Fire service officials said that most of Bangladesh鈥檚 hospitals are not fire safety compliant, which could have catastrophic consequences.
