Bengaluru: 26 Patients Shifted to Safety After Fire in Victoria Hospital

The shifting of patients took place in about 20-minutes.

At around 3 am, duty doctor Divya came across a spark accompanied by some noise in the switch board attached to the refrigerator and before she could react to the spark, fire started in the switch board. She alerted her fellows and initially, they tried their best to douse the fire from spreading but to no avail.

Divya then alerted the senior officials of the Hospital and police and fire and emergency services personnel were informed of the fire in the burns unit of the Victoria Hospital. A ‘Code Red’ alert was issued after fire was noticed in the unit. As soon as ‘Code Red’ was issued, doctors and personnel gathered to swing into action to rescue the patients on the first floor.

Doctors anticipated that the fire could spread and made arrangements to shift the patients in a nearby ward. Doctors engaged in rescue of the patients were soon joined by group ‘C,’ group ‘D’ and attenders to patients came to the rescue and rendered a helping hand to shift the patients before the fire could spread to the vicinity. However, the unit was engulfed with smoke from the fire.

Patients in walkable condition were shifted through stretchers, trolleys and even on battery operated vehicles but the most challenging task for the team engaged in shifting patients were patients in ICU. Immediately, trolleys fitted with oxygen were pressed into service and 5 patients in the ICU ward were shifted to a nearby ward located about 100-meters.

Soon, after shifting the patients to safety, doctors treated them and stabilized their condition. Later, the fire was brought under control by fire and emergency services personnel.